Influencers at this year’s US Open have stolen the spotlight for disrupting play and acting in a way that is antithetical to traditional tennis etiquette, drawing the ire of players and spectators alike.
But despite the pushback and complaints, it looks like they’re here to stay.
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Tennis’s biggest stars weren’t battling weather extremes and challenging court surfaces last week when the year’s fourth and final Grand Slam got under way at Flushing Meadows in New York. The disruption, rather, came from flashy ring lights, untimely selfies and raucous behaviour from influencers in the spectator stands.
The use of influencers – social media personalities who create content for followers online – is a relatively new trend in sports marketing across major sporting tournaments like tennis’s US Open and football’s FIFA World Cup.
According to sports media experts, they’re only going to become mainstream and more relevant.
What was the influencer row at the US Open about?
Players aren’t pushing back against influencers, one hundred of whom the US Open has formally accredited this year, so much as they’re calling for respect for the players and the game.
A chair umpire was forced to reprimand influencers for staging a disruptive photo shoot while two-time US Open champion Naomi Osaka was serving during her first-round win against Anastasia Zakharova last Monday.
Another social media user attracted attention for all the wrong reasons when she posted a series of photos posing inside the Arthur Ashe Stadium while Madison Keys was in the middle of playing a point against Alina Korneeva, which breached basic tennis etiquette.
Videos on social media showed people moving about the stands during play or taking group photographs, often without consideration for fans around them trying to enjoy the match.
Why are influencers at the US Open anyway?
Influencers are the latest, and a significantly cost-effective, marketing trend in the sports industry, Leslie Koroma, CEO of Africa Sports Ventures Group, told Al Jazeera.
The sports media expert agreed with the pushback from tennis fans used to the traditional model of informed journalists covering the sport compared to influencers with little to no knowledge.
“But this isn’t going away any time soon; we’re living in a digital, tech age, and this trend will continue,” Koroma said of the influencers, many of whom have millions of followers across TikTok, Instagram, and other social media platforms.
What brands and the US Open itself pay influencers is undisclosed, and it depends on their social media reach and following. It can, however, be safely assumed to be significantly less than the $17m spent on marketing in 2023 and 2024, down from $30m in 2021 and 2022, per the consolidated financial statements of the United States Tennis Association (USTA).
Do influencers add any value to sports tournaments?
Influencers are able to reach audiences that traditional media cannot, according to Nasha Smith, a sports media ethics professor at Arizona State University.
“The biggest thing influencers bring to the table is access to an audience, because tournaments can spend a lot of money trying to reach a particular demographic, while influencers may already have that audience sitting there waiting for their next post, and that can be incredibly valuable from a marketing perspective,” Smith told Al Jazeera.
“And it’s not just about something going viral; influencers can make a tournament feel more accessible or relevant to people who aren’t traditionally sports fans,” she added.
Of the 100 influencers accredited by the US Open, 20 are dedicated to providing coverage of the food and beverage scene alone. Others show what fans are consuming (such as Honey Deuce cocktails and overpriced chicken nuggets topped with caviar), what they’re wearing, and what the overall atmosphere is like.
Is influencer-led marketing just a numbers game?
Smith cautioned against organisers solely using online views and engagement as a rubric for success.
“If the content doesn’t translate into people becoming interested in the sport, attending the events, watching matches or following players, then you definitely have to question what you gained from this collaboration [with influencers],” she said.
Koroma knows that once the dust on this trend settles, marketing experts will evaluate how best to bring influencers into the fold of traditional marketing, although he did caution tournament organisers to think about the eventual outcome of using influencers as a medium to reach fans and the general public at large.
Will we keep seeing influencers at major sports tournaments?
What might seem like an affront to the sanctity of sports will become the new normal, according to experts.
“Sports, like everything else, has always evolved; tournaments have always evolved with their audiences in terms of changing the rules to speed up play or make play more palatable to an audience,” Smith said.
“But there’s a point where creating content starts interfering with the actual event, and I don’t think competition should be sacrificed for engagement,” she added.
“The goal should be to find a way to bring influencers and creators to that environment without making the athletes or other spectators pay the price for it.”
What have players said about the disruption?
“Obviously if you come to a sporting event, you have to respect the sport,” Osaka told reporters after her second-round win over Katerina Siniakova.
The former world number one, along with 2024 runner-up Jessica Pegula, said they were not opposed to influencers making tennis popular to their specific audience, but emphasised the need for decorum at the tournament.
“People are down there trying to perform, and it’s their career and their job. It seems a bit disrespectful,” Pegula said.
Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 champion, said he was all for popularising tennis, but acknowledged that distractions made it “challenging” for athletes to focus on their game.
How has the US Open responded to the incidents?
The disruptions prompted organisers to respond with messages being displayed on court screens that read: “Please refrain from the use of flash photography or other lighting during match play.”
US Open head Brendan McIntyre also clarified that two influencers were incorrectly credentialed and therefore had their access revoked.
