Frances Tiafoe’s partner Ayan Broomfield has been criticized for her words while speaking on a lack of diversity at the Australian Open

Frances Tiafoe’s partner comments have drawn criticism (Image: Getty)

Frances Tiafoe’s girlfriend has been criticized for her words on a ‘lack of diversity’ at the Australian Open this week while being in the crowds to support the American.

Ayan Broomfield, a Canadian tennis player, regularly travels to see Tiafoe in action as she sat to see his first-round victory in the singles while posting to her TikTok account about the grand slam.

But in part of one of her videos, she discussed not seeing ‘people of color’ at the event while insinuating that ‘black people had no-one to cheer for’.

On a video, she said: “I just made a TikTok about how I was at the Australian Open, I was there to watch my boyfriend play, and I didn’t really see any other women or people of color. In specific, black people, but people of colour nonetheless. A lot of people spoke about the heat, not having enough money to attend and not knowing enough black players to support. So, let me see if I can help.”

Broomfield went on speak in her video on the potential of giving out tickets to minorities if she is able to do so.

She added: “If we don’t keep taking up space and showing up, it is never going to get better, so my advice is we continue to come, we be present, and we continue to put ourselves in this room so at some point we feel comfortable. Representation matters.”

Broomfield then went on to discuss how ‘black people feel like they have no-one to cheer for’ before posting a run-down of the black or minority athletes in the tournament.

She said: “I’ll give you a little bit of a rundown on the Black tennis players that are in Australian Open this year, just off the top of my head. This is Frances Tiafoe, he’s an American tennis player, he’s super fun to watch. He’s also my boyfriend, but no favoritism here.

“This is Coco Gauff, she is this young American superstar, she won the US Open, like she’s killing it. Definitely check her out. This is Naomi Osaka, she is incredible. She’s won like four Grand Slams.”

Frances Tiafoe lost in the second round (Image: Getty)

While many had praised Broomfield wanting to give out free tickets and help people attend the Australian Open, others had criticized her initial words.

One wrote: “How many black people are in Melbourne, Australia. Honest question,” as another commented: “A lack of diversity being at the Australian Open might be because black people make up 1.7 percent of the countries population.”

A third wrote: “Hmm, I respect Ayan but people from the US need to stop viewing other countries according to their reality. Diversity doesn’t involve Black people only, there are lots of Asian fans in attendance and that is the majority of immigration there.”

Tiafoe was defeated in the second-round, losing to Fabian Marozsan in the second-round.