“Distracting The Actual Player”: Influencers Called Out For US Open Behavior By Sports Broadcaster

With the game locked at deuce in the second set of the fourth game of her first-round match at the 2026 US Open, Naomi Osaka had to hold her serve upon an instruction from the umpire. You would think that having to stop the action at such a crucial stage of the game was because of an injury or a controversial call. But that was not the case. The umpire had to put the game on hold to address some attendees who appeared to be influencers and had begun staging a proper photoshoot session in a way that seemed to be distracting the players.

As expected, the incident has gone on to spark plenty of backlash and criticism from tennis fans. Influencer and sports broadcaster Emily Austin also weighed in on the situation, sharing her frustration over such behavior on X .

"I'm technically an 'influencer' too," she wrote. "So maybe I'm allowed to say it: The US Open is not your personal content studio. Take the pictures. Make the TikToks. Have fun. But if your content is distracting the actual players, you've forgotten why you were invited in the first place."

The incident happened during Naomi Osaka 's opening-round game against world No. 101 Anastasia Zakharova at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday. While the game was going on, a group of people who appeared to be creators or influencers, sitting in a corporate hospitality suite directly behind the umpire's chair, began posing for photos. They even brought out and used bright, portable lights to properly capture whatever content they were creating, further creating a major visual distraction during active play.

And as a result, chair umpire Kader Nouni paused the match, turned toward the suite, and made an announcement over the microphone, asking them to stop and take their seats.

"Guys, please, in the suite behind me, thank you guys, please take your seat," he said.

The pause appeared to throw Osaka off her rhythm because when play resumed, her ball toss went awry, forcing her to apologize to Zakharova and reset. In fact, she ultimately lost that specific point, handing her opponent the advantage, although she eventually recovered to win the match in straight sets via two tiebreaks.

Reacting to the incident, head of US Open communications Brendan McIntyre defended the umpire's action while emphasizing that although fans and guests should be able to enjoy themselves at the tournament, their activities should not become a distraction to the players or interfere with the action on court.

"We want our fans and guests to have an incredible time when they attend the US Open, but we also need to ensure that it does not interfere with the action and competition on the court. These instances happen infrequently, and similar to when crowd noise reaches a certain level, our chair umpires have the ability to address the crowd when they occur," he said.

Some sections of fans are blaming the US Open's decision to invite accredited digital creators to the tournament, as the tournament reportedly approved passes for close to 100 digital creators for this year's event. This, they believe, has led to attendees who do not even care about the sport and therefore disregard strict tennis etiquette.

However, this tension with digital creators and influencers appears to be nothing new in the tennis world. In April 2025, Australian tennis player Daria Saville also expressed her frustration in a TikTok video, with her criticism focused on the corporate and marketing side of tennis, which she felt was increasingly giving more attention to major fashion and lifestyle brand deals involving influencers and tennis WAGs rather than the "actual, sweaty tennis players" who live the grind of the tour.

It is, however, quite understandable that the US Open extended invitations to digital creators in a bid to promote the tournament and make tennis more appealing, especially to a younger audience. Perhaps, in their focus on the benefits of bringing these creators closer to the action, they may not have fully considered that individuals who do not have an existing appreciation for tennis might end up struggling to understand or respect the etiquette expected during a live match.