The US Open wants to be for everyone. Not everyone knows the etiquette

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It makes sense that the most attractive audience to any money-making venture is whatever one is still relatively untapped. We’re living in an era where success is measured not in sustainability or even sheer size but nothing short of endless, indefinite growth.

For a tennis tournament, that tantalizing market of maybe-future customers means people who do not currently know or care all that much about tennis. There’s no moral judgement to that characterization. Ignorance or even disinterest about tennis is a perfectly fine way to be as a person. Provided you’re not attending a high profile — and increasingly prohibitively pricey — tennis match in cushy, comped seats.

The US Open would like to believe those people are either fans who just don’t know it yet or that such a disposition does not preclude enjoying themselves at a tennis match. It probably doesn’t.

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The weather this week in New York has been mostly glorious. The grounds of the US Open are buzzing with beautiful people. The food options are decadent. The Honey Deuce is dangerously delicious (based on a single, very professional sip taken by this serious journalist). And yet, the discourse around the tournament centers on the “close to 100” credentialed influencers creating tennis-adjacent content a little too close to the tennis itself.

In viral videos , content creators are seen filming during active moments in the match. There have been concerns about the use of ring lights or camera flashes during play. The umpires have repeatedly reminded attendees to quiet down in between games.

The viral signature drink of the US Open, the Honey Deuce, has been sold at the tournament for nearly 20 years. Last year, the tournament sold approximately 740,000 drinks, bringing the total in sales to around $17.2 million. CNN spoke to fans at the US Open who say they were expecting the drink to cost more due to its popularity.

During the first week of the tournament, players were asked about the potential distraction or disturbance of such a presence at the Open.

Coco Gauff said the light was a bigger issue than the sound, “because that does bother – and I am one of the more lenient players.”

For Naomi Osaka , it was the opposite.

“There was a moment where there was, like, people shouting and stuff, and you could hear it quite clearly. I think it bothered my opponent, too,” she said. “I don’t really see the lights, because obviously, like, when you are serving, you’re looking at the sun or you’re looking at the night lights. It was more the noise.”

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Regardless of the specifics, the upshot was, as Jessica Pegula put it: “People are down there trying to perform, and it’s their career and their job. It seems a bit disrespectful.”

According to ESPN , the people in the viral videos are not among those credentialed by the USTA. The creator credential, issued for the first time last year, encompasses social media editors associated with traditional outlets, tennis-specific independent creators, and lifestyle influencers focused on food or fashion. That doesn’t prevent other paying guests from using the Open as a stage for filming content.

The individuals, however, are less interesting than the ethos it reflects (get any large enough group together – with ample access to alcohol – and someone will misbehave.)

Sports are in the midst of a global makeover from narrow manifestations of tribal interest to mainstays of the monoculture. Instead of meccas or meeting places for diehard fans, live sporting events try to position themselves as major cultural moments.

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It’s evident in the coverage – sports as soap operas, sports as fashion platforms or foodie destinations, sports as celebrity factories. It’s part of a larger everything-ization of, well, everything. Watch enough influencer content, for example, and they’re bound to say something about wanting their page to have something for everyone. That’s what success looks like these days: Being a brand with universal appeal.

For sports this has been a boon and a bit of course correction. You can be a casual fan, a shameless bandwagoner. There’s less gatekeeping that, let’s be honest, disproportionately impacted certain demographics. There’s nothing wrong with being new to tennis.

For their part, the athletes recognize that and the value of a broader audience. They are, after all, demanding increased prize money .

“I have no problem with anybody doing anything, coming to watch the tennis. Putting asses in seats, you know, different age ranges, whatever, is huge for our sport,” Francis Tiafoe said. “That’s all I care about.

“I can appreciate the influencers coming and kind of showcasing the US Open experience,” Pegula said. “I think that’s something that the US Open has utilized a lot as far as food and drinks and things to do and the shops. That part is part of a fan experience and something that people might not know and make them want to go.”

“I definitely think it’s cool to have a new demographic and I definitely think it helps grow the sport,” Gauff said.

“I think there is huge positives,” Osaka said. “Like, you want people to continue to grow the sport. I just think it has to be in a way that everyone knows the rules and the etiquette.”

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But of course, those are two sides of the same coin. Intrinsic to being new is having less experience. An audience of “everyone” includes those that do not know the rules and etiquette. That’s not to absolve individuals from common sense or basic decency. But, come on, you’ve been outside before, do you really think everyone has that?

The truth is, it seems plenty of people who paid to be at the US Open don’t totally know the etiquette or are a little tipsy – or perhaps both. At a Labor Day evening match between Gauff and Iva Jovic, the US Open staff tasked with encouraging attendees to expediently find their seats were regularly so overwhelmed with the task that sterner-sounding staff in red SUPERVISOR shirts appeared to scold the patrons.

Still, it proved to be a Sisyphean feat. It was a brilliant match, a stunning showcase of Gauff’s speed and power against a worthy up-and-coming teenage opponent. The crowd was, overwhelmingly, locked in on every volley, cheering in proportion to the intensity of the point regardless of which American player prevailed (spoiler: it was Gauff in straight sets).

And yet, for the entirety of the hour-and-a-half match, guests had to be told to stop congregating in front of their sections where they were blocking other people’s sightlines – and where the views of the court were the best. Probably some, if not most, of them were taking pictures.

You don’t have to be an influencer these days to prioritize evidence of your experience over someone else’s experiences these days.

“They don’t listen,” an usher sighed seemingly to herself at one point. “Nobody listens.”

弗兰克·富兰克林二世/美联社

显而易见，对于任何盈利项目而言，最具吸引力的受众群体都是尚未开发的群体。我们生活在一个衡量成功的时代，成功的标准不再是可持续性，甚至也不是规模大小，而是无休止的、无限的增长。

对于网球赛事而言，潜在的潜在客户群体指的是那些目前对网球了解不多或不太关心的人。这种描述本身并无道德评判之意。对网球一无所知甚至漠不关心，完全可以理解。前提是你不是坐在舒适的免费座位上，去观看一场备受瞩目且票价日益高昂的网球比赛。

美国网球公开赛方面希望相信，这些人要么是尚未意识到自己是球迷的普通人，要么这种性格并不妨碍他们享受网球比赛。事实可能的确如此。

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或许会让诺瓦克·德约科维奇重新考虑他的网球生涯的泪水

本周纽约的天气大多晴朗宜人。美网公开赛的赛场上人头攒动，俊男靓女云集。美食选择琳琅满目，令人垂涎。蜂蜜二号鸡尾酒美味得令人欲罢不能（这是我这位严肃的记者仅凭一小口就得出的结论）。然而，围绕这场赛事的讨论焦点却集中在近百位拥有专业资质的网红身上，他们创作的内容与网球本身过于密切相关。

在一些疯传的视频中，可以看到内容创作者在比赛进行中拍摄。有人担心比赛期间使用环形灯或闪光灯会造成干扰。裁判也多次提醒观众在比赛间隙保持安静。

美国网球公开赛的招牌饮品“蜂蜜二号”（Honey Deuce）已在赛事期间销售近20年，并迅速走红网络。去年，该赛事售出约74万杯“蜂蜜二号”，总销售额约为1720万美元。CNN采访了一些美国网球公开赛的球迷，他们表示，由于这款饮品如此受欢迎，他们原本以为价格会更高。

在比赛的第一周，球员们被问及这种出现是否会对公开赛造成干扰或影响。

科科·高夫表示，灯光比声音更成问题，“因为灯光确实会让人烦恼——而我算是比较宽容的球员之一了。”

对于大坂直美来说，情况则恰恰相反。

“当时有人大声喊叫，声音特别大，听得很清楚。我觉得我的对手也受到了影响，”她说。“我其实没怎么注意灯光，因为发球的时候，要么看着太阳，要么看着夜灯。主要是噪音太吵了。”

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不管具体情况如何，结果正如杰西卡·佩古拉所说：“人们在那里努力表演，这是他们的事业和工作。这似乎有点不尊重人。”

据ESPN报道，这些疯传视频中的人物并非美国网球协会（USTA）认证的创作者。USTA去年首次颁发创作者认证，涵盖了与传统媒体合作的社交媒体编辑、专注于网球的独立创作者以及专注于美食或时尚的生活方式类博主。但这并不妨碍其他付费嘉宾利用美网公开赛作为拍摄素材的舞台。

然而，这些个体本身远不如它所反映的氛围有趣（只要把足够多的人聚在一起——并提供充足的酒精——就会有人行为不端。）

体育运动正经历着一场全球性的变革，从狭隘的部落兴趣向主流文化的中流砥柱转变。现场体育赛事不再是铁杆粉丝的圣地或聚会场所，而是力图将自身定位为重要的文化盛事。

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这一点在媒体报道中显而易见——体育被拍成肥皂剧，被当作时尚平台或美食胜地，被当作造星工厂。这只是“万物皆可化”这一更大趋势的一部分。例如，只要你看过足够多的网红内容，他们肯定会说希望自己的页面能满足所有人的需求。如今，成功似乎就意味着：打造一个拥有普适吸引力的品牌。

对体育运动而言，这无疑是一件好事，也算是一次方向调整。你可以做一个普通的球迷，一个毫不掩饰的跟风者。门槛降低了，而坦白说，门槛的设置过去对某些群体的影响尤为严重。刚开始接触网球也没什么不好。

运动员们也意识到了这一点，以及扩大观众群的价值。毕竟，他们正在要求提高奖金。

“我完全不反对任何人来观看网球比赛。让不同年龄段的人都来看比赛，这对我们这项运动来说意义重大，”弗朗西斯·蒂亚福说。“我只关心这个。”

佩古拉说：“我很欣赏这些网红前来，展示美网的精彩体验。我认为美网在餐饮、娱乐和商店等方面都做得很好。这部分内容是球迷体验的重要组成部分，也是人们可能不了解的，但却能激发他们亲临现场的兴趣。”

“我绝对认为拥有新的受众群体是一件很酷的事情，而且我绝对认为这有助于这项运动的发展，”高芙说道。

“我认为这其中有很多积极因素，”大阪直美说。“比如，你肯定希望这项运动能够继续发展壮大。我只是觉得，必须确保每个人都了解规则和礼仪。”

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当然，这其实是一枚硬币的两面。新手的本质就是经验不足。所谓“所有人”，也包括那些不了解规则和礼仪的人。这并不是说人们可以忽略常识或基本的礼貌。但是，拜托，你以前也出过门，你真的认为每个人都具备这些常识吗？

事实上，似乎很多花钱来看美网公开赛的人要么不太了解礼仪，要么有点微醺——或许两者兼而有之。在劳动节当晚高芙和伊娃·约维奇的比赛中，负责引导观众尽快找到座位的美网工作人员经常忙得不可开交，以至于一些身穿红色“主管”T恤、语气更为严厉的工作人员不得不出面训斥观众。

然而，这最终却成了一项西西弗斯式的壮举。这是一场精彩绝伦的比赛，高芙的速度和力量与一位实力不俗、冉冉升起的青少年对手的较量令人叹为观止。观众们全神贯注地观看每一回合，无论哪位美国选手最终获胜（剧透：高芙直落两盘获胜），他们的欢呼声都与回合的激烈程度成正比。

然而，在长达一个半小时的比赛中，工作人员不得不反复提醒观众不要聚集在各自区域前，以免阻挡其他人的视线——而这些区域恰恰是观看比赛的最佳位置。或许他们中的一些人，甚至大多数人，都在拍照。

如今，你不必成为网红，也可以优先考虑自己的经验证据，而不是别人的经验。

“他们根本不听，”一位引座员似乎自言自语地叹了口气，“没人听。”