During Naomi Osaka’s match against Anastasia Zakharova at this year’s US Open earlier this week, a gaggle of ring light-wielding influencers who were packed in a luxury suite became enough of a distraction that the umpire paused the match and repeatedly asked them to quiet down.

Last month, United States Tennis Association (USTA) media operations director Jeanmarie Daly said that the US Open was “almost doubling” the number of content creators it was approving for credentials.

There were “close to 100” influencers at this year’s tournament — up from 54 last year.

But in a statement to ABC News, USTA spokesperson Brendan McIntyre emphasized that the influencers whose antics disrupted Osaka and Zakharova’s match were not credentialed by the organization.

McIntyre also told The Athletic that media credentials were not given to Meg Radice and Audrey Jongens — two lifestyle influencers whose access to the US Open was revoked after they posted images of their badges to Instagram.

Though those creators weren’t exactly practicing proper US Open etiquette, they were doing their jobs (read: making content) with the single-minded focus that often makes their presence an annoyance to the people around them.

Influencers have become an integral part of the advertising industry, with US creator ad spend hitting $37 billion in 2025 and being projected to reach $44 billion by the end of this year.

Companies are increasingly relying on content creators to market their products, but what happened at the US Open is a snapshot of how that reliance can lead to undesirable outcomes for everyone involved.

But the point many people seem to be glossing over is that influencers are usually only invited to events like the US Open, awards shows, and film premieres because a brand decided it was worth bringing them there.

As irksome as creators can be when they take up too much public space, that kind of behavior is something the companies that hire them have to anticipate.

Before a rule change in 2024, the US Open was actually much more strict about requiring attendees to stay in their seats until breaks during the match when players switch sides of the court.

” The influencers at this year’s US Open might not have technically been breaking any rules, but they were having a negative impact on other attendees’ viewing experience.