Ayan Broomfield Has Big Plans for the Future of Tennis—On and Off the Court
"Sometimes, people just see me as a significant other," Ayan Broomfield tells me ahead of the 2026 US Open. "[They] assume that's why I'm in the tennis world." If you've only seen photos of the 29-year-old cheering on her partner, Frances Tiafoe, at the French Open or Wimbledon in a vintage Pucci set or a Cult Gaia minidress, that would probably be an easy assumption to make. "But I've actually had 20 years in the game," she assures. Broomfield is a spectator. She is a WAG (the nickname fans and media personnel have given to the wives and girlfriends of professional athletes). But neither descriptor defines Broomfield completely. If you look a little closer, you'll discover she's actually a Renaissance woman with an NCAA doubles title, a small part in King Richard, and two decades of experience playing the game. While she may have hung up her racket (professionally, at least), Broomfield's impact on the tennis world is far from over.
As an athlete from a young age, Broomfield never saw tennis as just a spectator sport. It was the foundation of her life. She grew up playing in Canada, eventually taking her talents to UCLA, where she won a national championship and established herself as a serious competitor in her own right. Then, the pandemic happened, as well as a slew of hard-to-overcome injuries. After giving her life to the tennis court through her childhood and collegiate years and stepping into the professional field, Broomfield traded the daily demands of athlete life for a new venture that allowed her to explore the sport from a different angle.
"I feel like I've done everything possible in tennis as a player," she tells me, reflecting on her career on the court. "At this point, I think of myself more as a storyteller—sometimes through content, sometimes through hosting, sometimes through building communities like Ayan's Aces. Everything I'm doing right now, especially in tennis, is about bringing people together, and I want to keep growing that."
Tennis has historically been a buttoned-up sport, but Broomfield believes that's changing. Her tournament wardrobe used to be dictated by comfort and function, but once she began attending matches as a spectator to support her partner, she realized fashion gave her a new way to express herself.
Over time, especially as fashion has become more integrated into the sport, she started showing her personality through her looks in the stands.
She now gravitates toward bold prints, designer looks, and statement-making pieces, and Thom Browne, Cult Gaia, and LaQuan Smith are among the designers on her radar for this year's US Open. "I really wanted to lean into the word 'bold,'" she explains, sharing a preview of her wardrobe for the tournament. "Bold silhouettes, tailoring, [and] fun accessories." Upon noticing this shift in fashion as it relates to the sport and adopting it herself, Broomfield realized something else: There is plenty of room to grow the tennis audience too.
Ayan's Aces was inspired by many moments where Broomfield saw a lack of diversity at tennis matches and events. "Once I started coming as a spectator, I realized there weren't a lot of women who looked like me in the stands, especially women of color," she says. When women told her they didn't feel like tennis was "for them," she knew she needed to take action.
What started with five tickets grew to 10 and eventually became a much larger initiative designed to help more people step into the world of tennis. Brands and tournaments now work with her to provide tickets and suites for a diverse community to enjoy the sport. Her goal? To get more women of color attending tennis tournaments. "Can you imagine the girls going to Paris for a week—shopping, sightseeing, going to a tennis tournament—just being together and building community?" The growth of the initiative has been fast, now reaching sports like Formula One and golf. Next, she hopes to take Ayan's Aces global.
For Broomfield, that evolution is about more than what people wear to tennis matches. It's about creating a space where more people feel like they can show up as themselves—whether that means donning a runway-worthy look in the stands, wearing a matching set on the court, or simply seeing someone who looks like them sitting beside them. "I want to use my platform and voice to keep pushing the envelope with how I present myself so more people feel comfortable wearing exactly what they want instead of conforming to typical tennis attire," she explains. Tennis might have been buttoned up during Broomfield's first 20 years on the court, but she's determined to leave it in a different state, one that's a little less proper and a little more open to interpretation.
