![\"British](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2195481eb598eea5c8d30d82b4b6f08c18d74b0c.jpg\")
Camera IconBritish actor Hugh Grant and Britain’s Queen Camilla among the star studded crowd at Wimbledon in 2025. Credit: TOLGA AKMEN\/EPA<\/p>\nInfluencers have been issued a star warning following a string of bad behaviour at the US Open, with tennis stars calling out their actions as turning the tournament \u201cinto a zoo\u201d.<\/p>\n
The New York tournament has always attracted a star-studded crowd but this year organisers nearly doubled the number of content creators accredited to attend matches in a bid to \u201creach younger and wider digital audiences\u201d.<\/p>\n
The decision was heavily contested, with many tennis stars and fans alike arguing that it could damage the rules and etiquette around the prestigious sporting event.<\/p>\n
Such manners include spectators not disturbing the players during points \u2014 a courtesy that was taken for a ride by some influencers when four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka took to the court in her first-round match against Anastasia Zakharova last week.<\/p>\n
While the star looked for the best angle to serve, influencers were simultaneously busy assessing their best angle for content, using a large portable ring light in doing so.<\/p>\n
The display was so disruptive that the chair umpire had to issue several warnings and pause play.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys, please, in the suite behind me, please, thank you guys, please take your seat,\u201d the chair umpire scolded.<\/p>\n
They weren\u2019t alone. Other content creators in the stadium reportedly asked staff to take photos of them using flash during the game.<\/p>\n
Addressing the disruption in a post-match press conference, Osaka urged fans to \u201crespect the sport\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The umpire] told everyone to be quiet more than I\u2019ve ever heard an umpire tell a crowd to be quiet,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think obviously if you come to a sporting event, you have to respect the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
While she acknowledged that it \u201ccould be a good thing\u201d for people to increase the popularity of tennis among their own audiences, she said the situation \u201chas to be managed a lot better\u201d.<\/p>\n
Reacting to the US Tennis Associations decision to increase influencer accreditation, world number four Coco Gauff had mixed opinions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely think it\u2019s cool to have a new demographic and I definitely think it helps grow the sport but if you\u2019re being invited to a red carpet, you wouldn\u2019t show up in jeans,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just follow the etiquette of the sport. That\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gauff also said that some behaviours of influencers could distract players during games, including talking \u201ctoo loud\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAshe (stadium) is a very loud court, so I\u2019m used to it but definitely not, like, mouthing TikToks and stuff in the middle of a point,\u201d she said, adding that flash photography is a worse distraction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat actually does mess us up a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fellow US star Jessica Pegula said it was \u201ctough\u201d to see videos of people using selfie lights in the crowd during games.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are down there trying to perform, and it\u2019s their career and their job. It seems a bit disrespectful. I think it\u2019s gotten a little too much this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Camera IconBritish actor Hugh Grant and Britain’s Queen Camilla among the star studded crowd at Wimbledon in 2025. Credit: TOLGA AKMEN\/EPA<\/p>\n
French tennis player Adrian Mannarino even went so far as to say the tournament had \u2018become a bit of a zoo\u2019 with the former grand slam star stating: \u201cYou can smell weed on the court, there\u2019s noise coming from everywhere, it\u2019s becoming a bit of a zoo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mannarino\u2019s \u201cweed\u201d comment came after two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka briefly stopped her match against Kamilla Rakhimova on Friday to complain about the strong smell of cannabis on the court.<\/p>\n
Approaching the umpire, she said: \u201cSomeone is smoking weed, do you mind \u2026 because it\u2019s so strong.\u201d<\/p>\n
She told a post-match conference: \u201cIt\u2019s a bit tricky to handle that smell while you\u2019re trying to compete at your best.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Influencers have been issued a star warning following a string of bad behaviour at the US Open, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":883937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,134,995,588,85,747],"class_list":["post-883936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-influencers","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}