Don’t expect to see influencers posing during matches at Wimbledon next year.
The All England Club will not be credentialing influencers and will confiscate any ring lights or other items that could disrupt matches, according to multiple reports.
Wimbledon’s conditions on entry already prohibit any items that may be used to disrupt matches. The news comes in the wake of the ongoing discourse surrounding influencers at the U.S. Open, which has been a prominent topic during the first week of the tournament.
The U.S. Open has credentialed nearly 100 content creators and influencers under a new program it rolled out last year. A group of influencers in a suite had to be admonished by a chair ump last week during Naomi Osaka’s first-round match, and another viral video circulated of an influencer using a ring light while play was going.
Wimbledon does not plan to follow the Open’s lead and will not be setting up an accreditation category for content creators or influencers, the Press Association reported.
Several players have commented on the situation during the first week of the Grand Slam in Queens.
“I feel like it’s common courtesy to read up on the sport,” Osaka said later in the week. “Especially the etiquette. 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.”
She added: “I just think it has to be in a way that everyone knows the rules and the etiquette.”
Tennis star Coco Gauff had also been asked about it.
“With anything, any venue you go to, 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,” she said.
