The US Open built the stage, then complained about the show

"Guys, please, in the suite behind me, thank you guys, please take your seat."

The most honest line of the tournament came from the chair umpire Kader Nouni over the microphone on Monday, turning towards a group filming content in a suite while Naomi Osaka was trying to serve. The video went round the world with the moral already attached: influencers are ruining tennis.

It is a convenient moral. Exactly who was in that suite - creators credentialled by the tournament, guests of a brand - has never been clarified. What is clear is the place: a box the US Open built, sold and positioned inside the frame precisely so that people would be seen in it.

The facts are small. Fourth game of the second set against Anastasia Zakharova, at deuce, Osaka serving. In a suite behind the umpire's chair a group stands up, switches on portable lights and keeps them on with the ball in play. Nouni stops everything. On the resumption Osaka misses her ball toss, apologises to her opponent, and wins in two sets anyway. End of the incident, start of the hunt for the culprit.

The numbers say it was not an accident

In 2025 the US Open credentialled content creators as media for the first time: 54 of them. This year there are almost 100. Jeanmarie Daly, who runs the USTA's media operations, explained it without any circling:

"We realized we live in a world where traditional media and content creators reach different audiences in different ways."

It is an industrial choice, stated and reasoned, not a hole in the credentialling system.

Then there is the geography. The suite in question sits behind the umpire's chair, and when the group stood up the broadcast pointed a camera at it. It is hard to think that whoever buys a seat there is not also buying a little visibility. That goes for a bank, it goes for a fashion label, and it goes for people who produce content for a living. Selling that space and then being surprised when somebody performs in it is a difficult position to defend.

The rest of the bill is run up by the tournament itself. The Arthur Ashe is in the middle of an 800-million-dollar renovation, the largest in its history, which will take courtside seats from 3,000 to 5,000 and add a 250-million-dollar player performance centre. In 2025 738,459 Honey Deuces were served at 23 dollars each, almost 17 million in revenue from a single cocktail. An organisation that monetises its own atmosphere with this efficiency cannot ask its guests to behave as if they were in a library.

Medvedev's objection, and why it is not enough

The most serious defence comes from Daniil Medvedev, who was blunt on the subject:

"The more we try to raise awareness about tennis, the better it is. The more popular the sport is, for sure, there are some downsides."

He is right about the premise. Tennis does not have an infinite audience and cannot afford to treat every newcomer as an intruder. Nobody is asking for phones to be confiscated at the gates of Flushing Meadows.

The problem is the solution he proposes straight afterwards:

"If it disturbs you during play, if you see the light or something, you can always say something to the referee."

Translated: the burden of enforcing the etiquette falls on the player, mid-serve, in the middle of a Slam match. Jessica Pegula put her finger on it:

"People are down there trying to perform, and it's their career and their job. It seems like a bit disrespectful."

Pegula is not asking for anyone to be thrown out; on the contrary, she appreciates the creators who cover the food, the fashion, the experience of the tournament. She is asking that the cost not be hers.

The USTA replied through Brendan McIntyre, the tournament's head of communications:

"We want our fans and guests to have an incredible time when they attend the US Open, but we also need to ensure that does not interfere with the action and competition on the court."

He added that episodes of this kind happen rarely and that umpires always have the option of addressing the crowd. It is the answer of someone who would rather treat a design problem as a statistical anomaly.

One line of regulation would be enough

What is needed is one line of regulation, and the tournament could write it tomorrow. No artificial lights switched on and no standing photo shoots with the ball in play, penalty the withdrawal of the credential. Two lines, signed along with the pass.

The tournament has always asked spectators in the stands to stay seated during rallies and to move at the changeovers. Writing the same thing down, on the pass of anyone who comes in to produce content, is ordinary administration, not an act of courage.

If credentials keep growing at the pace of the last two years, the ring light will be back. That is perfectly fine, as long as somebody decides in advance when it can be switched on. Until that rule exists, the US Open will keep delegating it to an umpire who turns round and says please, one suite at a time. Nouni did his job. On Monday he also did somebody else's.