Morgan Riddle weighs in as US Open influencer drama ramps up

Morgan Riddle entered the chat on influencer drama at the US Open after a chair umpire had to pause the first-round match between Naomi Osaka and Anastasia Zakharova on Monday due to an overzealous group in a suite at Arthur Ashe Stadium.During an interview with Us Weekly, the influencer, who split from American pro Taylor Fritz in April, explained that the stigma around content creators at sports events goes beyond just the tennis tournament at Flushing Meadows.“I don’t think that’s isolated to the Open, necessarily,” Riddle, who attended the US Open on Sunday, told the publication.“I think that’s just the state of the world in general right now … I don’t think it’s just a monoculture happening around the US Open.

I just think that’s sort of the zeitgeist right now.People do things for social media.“Obviously people love to bag on influencers for doing that, but every single person who goes to the Open is going to take photos and take content, except maybe the older, die-hard, OG tennis fans.

“So yes, people do want to blame influencers, but I do think a lot of people you see taking content around the grounds are just regular people.”Riddle explained that there needs to “better communication” when it comes to “general tennis etiquette” — something she is well-versed due to her years traveling on the ATP Tour with Fritz.“I want to be empathetic about that, too, because there are so many people who are going to the US Open for the first time and they’ve never been to a tennis match before,” she said.

“How are they supposed to know the rules?”Signage posted around the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows asks attendees to “please refrain from the use of flash photography or other lighting.”A viral video showed one woman, wearing a polkadot dress, using a bright ring light to take photos of herself during the match.Another clip making the rounds online showed a bunch of influencers in a ...