Influencers are causing quite the racket at the U.S. Open this year
TheGrio...
After the U.S. Open nearly doubled its influencer program, the influencers have pulled, bringing ring lights and virality.
The looks are styled, the ring lights are on, the cameras are rolling, and everybody seems to be angling for the perfect shot. No, New York Fashion Week hasn’t started early—this is the U.S. Open we’re talking about.
For the second year in a row, the U.S. Open has invited content creators inside the gates with official credentials, nearly doubling the program from 54 creators last year to roughly 100 this year, per ABC News. But after several viral incidents involving attendees filming, posing, and using bright lights during play have caused a stir, the tournament announced new etiquette barring flash photography, ring lights, and anything else that could disrupt a match.
For decades, the U.S. Open—which runs from Aug. 23 through Sept. 13 and takes over the Arthur Ashe Stadium and the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York—has doubled as a place to see some of the best in tennis and be seen, packed with celebrities, fashion moments, and viral scenes. However, this year, as the tournament expands its efforts to reach younger and more diverse audiences, some of the new faces showing up courtside are Black, including a group of women at the center of one of the most viral incidents. They’re also far from the only attendees who have run afoul of tennis etiquette, as other creators have drawn criticism for everything from using bright lights during play to posting their credentials online.
One of the first major dust-ups occurred Monday during Naomi Osaka’s first-round match against Anastasia Zakharova at Arthur Ashe Stadium, when play was briefly paused amid a commotion coming from one of the luxury suites. A video that soon went viral showed a group of women filming themselves mouthing along to a voiceover during play.
That same night, another viral post showed a woman in a polka-dot dress posing with her handbag for photos inside Arthur Ashe Stadium as Madison Keys played Alina Korneeva below, with a bright light being used during play.
On Thursday, New York City-based creators Meg Radice and Audrey Jongens revealed their U.S. Open credentials had been revoked after they posted photos of the passes to Instagram. The pair, who received access through a partnership with a restaurant at the tournament, said they didn’t realize posting their credentials violated the rules and learned their access had been pulled before they ever made it to a match.
As the backlash mounted later that day, the U.S. Open responded by adding more signs throughout the stadium and VIP suites barring flash photography, ring lights, and other activity that could disrupt play, in addition to sending reminders directly to ticket and suite holders.
Meanwhile, the players themselves don’t seem to mind the creators. They just want them to understand the arena they’re in. Osaka, who did admit she could hear people shouting during her first-round match, said that creators could help introduce tennis to audiences that might not otherwise follow the sport, so long as their presence is better managed.
“It could be a good thing for people to make the sport of tennis popular to their specific audience, but I think it has to be managed a lot better,” she said. “You want people to continue to grow the sport. I just think it has to be in a way that everyone knows the rules and the etiquette.”
Fellow tennis star Coco Gauff largely agreed, welcoming the different demographic creators are bringing to tennis while stressing that newcomers have to understand the environment.
“I think it’s great to have a different demographic (come) to the sport, and I think as I have no problem with influencers, I’ve met some of them and follow some of them online,” she said. “Luckily, the ones I do follow online do follow the etiquette and know tennis pretty well.”
At the same time, Gauff also placed some of the responsibility on the brands, inviting content creators to ensure they understand the etiquette and guidelines, such as no flash photography, no loud talking, and no elaborate content creation at any point.
“With anything, any venue you go to, like if you’re being invited to red carpet, you wouldn’t show up in jeans,” she said. “So I think it’s just follow the etiquette of the sport.”
However, the group whose video became the most viral example of influencers behaving badly wasn’t part of the U.S. Open’s official creator program. They were guests in a suite, a distinction that’s been largely lost as the backlash grows and seemingly anyone filming or making content around Arthur Ashe Stadium has been lumped into the same conversation.
So a path forward looks like doing exactly what Gauff suggested: having these brands work harder to ensure that those they’re inviting know the rules. But at the same time, there may even be room to extend an even greater invitation to the Black creators who are already helping to introduce the sport to new audiences, thus bringing them into the fold with the right etiquette. Which, frankly, given all that’s happening in the sport of tennis around Black talent, it couldn’t be a better time to engage that fanbase further.
From Osaka turning every Grand Slam entrance into a viral fashion moment to Gauff’s increasingly dominant serve, and Frances Tiafoe’s history-making run, Black talent is rising across the sport and receiving more visibility than ever.
More Black Americans are picking up rackets, too. According to the USTA, 3.7 million Black Americans played tennis in 2025, an increase of more than 450,000 from the year before.
Several of the sport’s biggest Black stars remain in contention at this year’s U.S. Open, including Gauff, Osaka, Madison Keys, Taylor Townsend and Frances Tiafoe in singles, while tennis legends Serena and Venus Williams are back together in women’s doubles for the first time at the tournament since 2022, chasing their third U.S. Open title.
With this much happening on the court and this much buzz already about it, say what you will about them, but the influencers—credentialed or not—certainly got us talking.