Wimbledon Confirms It Won't Copy US Open's Influencer Credential Program After Osaka Match Disruption

Wimbledon has an answer for the influencer mess unfolding at this year's US Open: not here.

The All England Club confirmed to the Press Association on Sunday, September 6, that it will not set up any credentialing category for influencers or content creators ahead of next year's Championships. Security will confiscate ring lights and any other items deemed capable of disrupting matches, under the club's existing conditions of entry, which already bar anything that could interfere with play.

The US Open's influencer program and courtside disruption

The US Open rolled out an influencer accreditation program last year and expanded it for the 2026 tournament, credentialing close to 100 content creators, roughly double the 2025 total, according to Yahoo Sports. During the first week of this year's tournament, a group of influencers in a courtside suite disrupted Naomi Osaka's first-round match by filming a lip-sync TikTok routine and using bright ring lights, forcing the chair umpire to stop play and tell the suite, "Guys, please, in the suite behind me, please, thank you guys, please take your seat," according to thefirstserve.com.au.

Osaka addressed it directly with reporters afterward. "I feel like it's common courtesy to read up on the sport, especially the etiquette," she said, adding that influencer involvement "could be a good thing for people to make the sport of tennis popular to their specific audience," but that "it has to be managed a lot better."

Coco Gauff offered a similar mixed take, telling reporters she has no problem with influencers generally and follows some online, but that behavior needs a floor. "I think it's like any venue you come to, you have to follow the etiquette towards it," Gauff said, per The Express, suggesting brands could post signage in suites so first-time attendees know the rules. "I definitely think no flash photography, because that does bother." Madison Keys also flagged what The Mirror described as increased erratic behavior in the crowd this year.

Separately, two influencers posting under the handle theviplist had their US Open credentials pulled after photographing and posting their own badges online, according to The Telegraph. The USTA later said the pair had been improperly credentialed after being listed as staff by a food vendor, not through the influencer program itself. "When we identified that these individuals had been improperly credentialed, their access was revoked and vendors were reminded of our policy," a USTA spokesman said.

France's Adrian Mannarino, not commenting on influencers specifically but on the tournament's broader looseness, told the Press Association the atmosphere has gotten out of hand. "There's a smell of marijuana on the court, noise everywhere. The truth is, it's turning into a bit of a zoo." Recreational marijuana is legal in New York.

Wimbledon's approach

Wimbledon reviews its social-media and security policies annually, and this year's review produced a decision not to follow New York's lead. The All England Club has never had an influencer accreditation category, and its existing conditions of entry already covered disruptive equipment before this controversy started.

At least one outlet overstated the decision. en.tennistemple's headline framed it as Wimbledon "banning" influencers for 2027, language that implies influencers were previously welcome and are now being expelled. Nothing in the Press Association reporting, cited by The Telegraph, The Mirror, and Yahoo Sports, supports that. Wimbledon is declining to build a program the US Open built, not reversing an existing one.

The Telegraph also notes an irony: Wimbledon's own social-media strategy, launched more than 15 years ago, is credited as part of the inspiration for the US Open's influencer push in the first place. The All England Club's Instagram account has more than 8 million followers, roughly double the US Open's, per The Telegraph. British content creator Eliza Wastcoat, a former Wimbledon ball-girl, told the outlet the USTA's approach is a "double-edged sword," since new creators "aren't familiar with the tennis environment" but will likely "learn from this experience."

The USTA has not announced any plan to scale back or restructure its influencer credentialing for next year's tournament. The 2026 US Open was still in its second week as of Sunday, September 6, meaning the debate over etiquette, ring lights, and crowd behavior in Flushing is very much unresolved while Wimbledon's policy for July 2027 is already locked in.