The scene had unfolded on Monday inside Arthur Ashe Stadium. In a suite directly behind chair umpire Kader Nouni, a group of credentialled influencers were using bright ring lights and staging content while Osaka and Anastasia Zakharova played below.
Nouni stopped the point to address them.
“Guys, please, in the suite behind me, please, thank you guys, please take your seat,” he said.
Osaka came through that first round on two tie-breaks, 7-6(6), 7-6(3) against Zakharova. On Thursday she needed three sets to see off Katerina Siniakova 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 and book her place in the third round. In her press conference she came back to what had bothered her earlier in the week, in quotes carried by Sky Sports.
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‘Common courtesy to read up on the sport’
“I think obviously if you come to a sporting event, you have to respect the sport.”
“I feel like it’s common courtesy to read up on the sport, especially the etiquette.”
Osaka did not name any of the guests involved.
“I feel like 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, especially in the situation like [my] first-round match.”
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“Overall, I think there is huge positives. 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.”
The USTA’s creator push
The scene inside Ashe was not accidental. The tournament has leaned hard into content creators to reach a younger audience, roughly doubling the number of credentialled creators from 54 last year to close to 100 for this edition, alongside a smaller group of creators the USTA has directly commissioned to produce tournament content.
Tournament communications chief Brendan McIntyre acknowledged the tension.
“We want our fans and guests to have an incredible time…but we also need to ensure that does not interfere with the action and competition on the court.”
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Osaka is not the only player to have flagged it. World No. 3 Jessica Pegula described the influencer disruptions as “a bit disrespectful”, given the demands on players working through a Grand Slam.
Organisers have started emailing guests and suite holders and running messages on the venue’s video boards reminding them not to use flash photography or lighting devices during play.
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