The U.S. Open has an influencer problem

A guy with a microphone and a ring light stopped me on the grounds of the U.S. Open this week and asked if I knew anything about tennis and whether he could interview me. I figured he was going to throw out some tricky tennis trivia or ask me about a player ranked outside the top 50. I was secretly hoping this was one of those challenges where you can earn $100 if you know enough weird facts. Let’s GOOOOO.

Spoiler alert. I did NOT win $100. Just his vague disappointment that I was able to answer all of the questions.

It wasn’t trivia; it was a sort of poll apparently designed to determine if I’ve ever seen an actual tennis match before. He asked if I knew what a tiebreaker was, if I could tell him how a player wins a set. and to explain how game-scoring works. It took me about 45 seconds to figure out that this was one of those videos people usually capture in Times Square where they ask passersby to name a European country that starts with “P” but only upload the people who say “Paris” or “Peru” and cut the Portugals and Polands.

I have been watching tennis for three decades and also writing about it for half of them. At no time in those 30 years did I imagine that the U.S. Open would prove to be fertile ground for this kind of gotcha activity. This isn’t because I’m a tennis snob. I can assure you, I’m not. There is nothing I enjoy more than explaining tennis to new fans. And to be clear, I don’t think you need to understand every nuance in order to enjoy watching Frances Tiafoe in Louis Armstrong Stadium. The problem is that this year — for perhaps the first time ever — they aren’t “new fans.” They are influencers. And a lot of them aren’t interested in tennis or explanations at all.

On the Monday of the first round, Naomi Osaka’s match against Anastasia Zakharova was paused because a group of women were filming themselves mouthing along to a voiceover while the ball was in play. Later that same evening, during Madison Keys vs. Alina Korneeva, another influencer pointed a ring light directly at the court. American Jessica Pegula offered her take: “People are down there trying to perform, and it’s their career and their job. It seems like a bit disrespectful.”

The USTA issued roughly 100 creator credentials this year, nearly double last year’s number, and then spent the middle weekend papering the building with signage and making announcements before each match asking people not to use flash photography or supplemental lighting. Signs and warnings explaining that you should not temporarily blind a professional athlete mid-serve. At a professional tennis tournament. Kay.

Let me be clear about my position (to my earlier point that I am far from a tennis snob). I want this tournament to be enormous. I want it sold out, loud, and insanely popular. I want the people in those seats to be having the time of their lives. Tennis has spent decades wringing its hands about how to move beyond its reputation as a niche sport, and it would be spectacularly stupid to slam the door the moment we finally walk through it.

But etiquette is not a satin ribbon draped over the sport. It IS the sport; it’s an integral part of tennis’ identity. Silence during points exists because a player is tracking a ball moving at 120 miles per hour and calculating where to put it. The reason nobody stands up mid-rally is the same reason nobody talks during a putt — because these sports are HARD, and in order for the athletes to give their best, they have to be able to concentrate.

Here is what worries me. The U.S. Open runs for two weeks. If those two weeks become a backdrop only, a place to be photographed rather than a place where something is happening worth photographing, then eventually there is no reason to be photographed there. Spectacle is a CONSEQUENCE of the sport. It is not a substitute for it. You cannot hollow out the thing and keep the glamour, because the glamour was always borrowed from the thing.

When Arthur Ashe Stadium reopens in 2027 following its $550 million refresh, roughly 2,800 upper-bowl seats will be gone. The courtside bowl will grow from about 3,000 seats to 5,000. There will be nine courtside clubs and two new levels of luxury suites, and a full-tournament package in the new Courtside Club will run between $48,000 and $120,000. The cheapest seats in the house, the ones occupied by people who came for the tennis, are being converted into rooms with better sightlines for people who may well spend the match facing the other way.

Which brings us to Morgan Riddle, former girlfriend of Taylor Fritz and the leader of this new frontier in professional sports. Her 400 Club claims to welcome women to sports fandom “in any way they want.”– presumably meaning that you should be able to show up at a big event because of hair, fashion, and cuisine and still enjoy yourself. And you know what? Sure. I’m with you. Given the choice between having this demographic ignore tennis completely or pay attention to it because it’s fashionable to do so, I’ll take the latter…but not at the expense of the athletes and fellow fans.

I’m not concerned that you don’t know who Tomas Martin Etcheverry is. I AM concerned if you ruin the experience for the non hair, fashion, and cuisine people around you.

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