Naomi Osaka indulges the spectacle of tennis, treating each Grand Slam like the Met Gala. But once the match begins, Osaka locks in on tennis and respects the sport’s traditional protocols. The same cannot be said about the horde of influencers crashing the US Open this year.
On Tuesday, Osaka’s first-round match against Anastasia Zakharova was interrupted when the chair umpire had to address a particularly rowdy suite. According to Reuters, “around 100 content creators” were credentialed for the US Open, and the influencer influx has been a hot topic throughout the tournament’s first week.
In an age with a gutted tennis media, the burden increasingly falls on players to cut through the noise. Come Thursday, after winning their respective second-round matches, Osaka and Coco Gauff did exactly that.
“Today, the umpire, she told everyone to be quiet more than I’ve ever heard an umpire tell a crowd to be quiet,” Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, said during her post-match press conference. “I do think in my first match, I wasn’t really paying attention. I tell people [that] I normally just focus on the match and the court, but there was a moment where there was people, like, shouting and stuff, and you could hear it quite clearly. And I think it bothered my opponent, too.”
Osaka clarified that she wasn’t bothered by content creators’ camera lights, but she didn’t like “the noise.” Later in the presser, a reporter asked Osaka for her perspective on “this new generation, bringing new fans, and the tradition of tennis.”
“I mean, that’s a really tough question,” Osaka said. “I think, obviously, if you come to a sporting event, you have to respect the sport. 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 in my first-round match.
“Overall, there’s huge positives, and I’m not the one to, like, what do you say? 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.”
By Thursday night, Gauff, a two-time Grand Slam champion, couldn’t wait to offer her commentary on influencers’ place in tennis. Her post-match presser began with a question about it.
“OK, I’m actually gonna — I was lowkey about to comment in somebody’s comment section, but I was like, let me not do that,” Gauff said while laughing. “I think it’s great to have a different demographic to the sport. I have no problem with influencers. I’ve met some of them and follow some of them online. Luckily, the ones I do follow online do follow the etiquette and know tennis pretty well.”
“Any venue you come to, you have to follow the etiquette towards it. And I definitely think it may be on some of the brands, too, maybe to have a sign plastered or something in the suite — so they know, because, you know, sometimes, it’s their first tennis match. They don’t know. They’ve probably been to basketball games before.
Enjoying this article? Support our work with a small crypto donation.“But I definitely think no flash photography because that does bother [me]. And I am one of the more lenient players. There’s very few times you hear me complain about noise. But the flash, definitely. No flash in the points. Try not to talk too loud. Ashe is a very loud court, so I’m used to it, but definitely not like mouthing TikToks and stuff in the middle of a point.
And I think it’s not just for the players, but for the viewing experience, for those around. […] But I definitely think it’s cool to have a new demographic, and I definitely think it helps grow the sport. But, like with anything, any venue you go to, like, if you’re being invited to a red carpet, you wouldn’t show up in jeans. I think it’s just follow the etiquette of the sport. That’s all.”
“Any venue you come to, you have to follow the etiquette towards it. And I definitely think it may be on some of the brands, too, maybe to have a sign plastered or something in the suite — so they know, because, you know, sometimes, it’s their first tennis match. They don’t know. They’ve probably been to basketball games before.
“But I definitely think no flash photography because that does bother [me]. And I am one of the more lenient players. There’s very few times you hear me complain about noise. But the flash, definitely. No flash in the points. Try not to talk too loud. Ashe is a very loud court, so I’m used to it, but definitely not like mouthing TikToks and stuff in the middle of a point.
And I think it’s not just for the players, but for the viewing experience, for those around. […] But I definitely think it’s cool to have a new demographic, and I definitely think it helps grow the sport. But, like with anything, any venue you go to, like, if you’re being invited to a red carpet, you wouldn’t show up in jeans. I think it’s just follow the etiquette of the sport. That’s all.”
Gauff and Osaka have consistently offered strong, thoughtful commentary on issues, tennis-related or otherwise. Just last month, Gauff struck a poignant chord when weighing in on transgender athletes. Osaka always stands ten toes down for the Black community. So this isn’t new from them — light work, relatively — but it’s still refreshing every time.
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