Frances Tiafoe's girlfriend Ayan Broomfield had a previously unknown role in the film “King Richard” and is a former NCAA champion

Frances Tiafoe will enter Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday and experience one of the greatest moments of his life.

In the semifinals of the US Open, he will face fellow American Taylor Fritz. One of the two would be the first American to reach the final since Andy Roddick in 2006.

Tiafoe is supported by his family and girlfriend in his players' box at Flushing Meadow.

It was quite a journey for the 26-year-old, the son of Sierra Leonean refugees who slept in an empty office at a tennis center in Maryland.

A great support on his journey was his girlfriend Ayan Broomfield, with whom the couple has been together since 2015.

Broomfield herself is a former college tennis star, where she was named ACC Freshman of the Year in 2015-16 at Clemson and won the NCAA Div I women's doubles championship in 2019 at UCLA.

She also had a previously unknown role in the film “King Richard” with Will Smith, the biopic about the father of Serena and Venus Williams.

Broomfield doubled for the actress who played Venus Williams in the 2021 film.

She said of her role: “It was one of the most important changes in my life and I realised that I could use tennis in entertainment too. I'm on set with Will Smith, it's incredible.”

Since then, she has been a content creator and influencer – with around 80,000 followers on Instagram.

“I am involved in everything in tennis, even without being on the court competing 24/7,” she said.

“I still love the sport and have spent over 20 years playing it. With the rise of social media, players can earn ten times more off the pitch than on it. I can combine the two.”

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It seems like they fit together perfectly.

“We balance each other out a lot,” Frances Tiafoe’s girlfriend told ATP.

“We can talk about tennis. I mean, I've played tennis myself. Even when we look at the draw and look at certain players, sometimes I can act as a sounding board for matches.

“I just feel like we understand it and know what it takes for someone to compete at the highest level,”

Fritz and Tiafoe will face off on Friday night, guaranteeing a home player in the men's final since Andy Roddick lost to Roger Federer 18 years ago.

It will also be the first all-American semifinal at a men's Grand Slam since 2005.

Now, for the first time in 21 years, there is a real chance of a home win in New York. Tiafoe told the press that the win against Grigor Dimitrov was “not the way he wanted to progress” due to an injury.

“But I'm happy to have made it through. Another semi-final here. Unbelievable,” he said.

“It was a really high-class game. I liked where I was in the third, but that's not how I wanted to end it.”

He added: “But you're going to see me compete against another American, so Friday is going to be a hell of a day.”

He described Friday's game as the “biggest” of his and Fritz's life.

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“We have known each other for so long, we have played against each other since we were 14,” he said.

“It's going to be great to play against him here in the biggest arena, in one of the biggest games in the world.”

“I couldn't be more excited. I'm going to give it everything I've got.”