Wimbledon dropped the hammer on inviting influencers for the tournament next summer after the ongoing US Open controversy.
With US Open fever at its peak, things are not looking the way they should. After an influx of influencers during the tournament, which led to controversies over a lack of etiquette, Wimbledon has announced that it will not provide credentials to influencers for next summer’s tournament.
“Wimbledon does not plan on providing credentials to influencers next summer in hopes of avoiding the issues that affected this year’s US Open, according to The Press Association. Players such as Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff have called for spectators to follow the sport’s etiquette after matches were interrupted,” a post from Yahoo Sports read on X, formerly Twitter.
The decision comes amid what is said to be “how influencers are killing the US Open and turning it into a ‘zoo,’” per a Daily Mail news article.
During Naomi Osaka’s game against Anastasia Zakharova in the first round, the chair umpire had to ask people in the suite to sit down after they were using bright lights to shoot videos while the match was still going on.
“I think obviously if you come to a sporting event, you have to respect the sport,” Osaka said after the game. “And I feel like it’s common courtesy to read up on the sport, especially the etiquette. 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.”
Additionally, world no. 1 Aryna Sabalenka raised the issue with the chair umpire during her match against Kamilla Rakhimova and complained that the smell of marijuana from the stands was making it hard for her to play.
According to the reports, the US Open credentialed about 100 influencers for the tournament, doubled from last year. Designated as media, the creators have been all over the tournament, shooting videos, making trend videos, and sometimes disrupting the game.
However, ESPN argued that those hindering the tournament, especially during the Osaka-Zakharova match, were not credentialed by the USTA.
With US Open fever at its peak, things are not looking the way they should. After an influx of influencers during the tournament, which led to controversies over a lack of etiquette, Wimbledon has announced that it will not provide credentials to influencers for next summer’s tournament.