Naomi Osaka called upon influencers travelling to the US Open to ‘read up’ on the sport’s rules for spectators after her first-round match was disrupted by a rowdy group in one of Arthur Ashe Stadium’s luxury suites. The four-time Grand Slam champion had been preparing to serve when the chair umpire told off the guests for appearing to stage an impromptu photoshoot, complete with portable lights. ‘Guys, please, in the suite behind me, please thank you guys, please take your seat,’ the chair umpire announced to the stadium, as the broadcast camera panned to a group milling freely within their prime seats, taking pictures and talking.While Osaka was only half-focused on the specifics of the incident while immersed in defeating her opponent Anastasia Zakharova, discussing what happened on the tournament’s showcourt two days later, she suggested that more could be done to ensure that players were not disturbed during matchplay. ‘I think obviously, if you come to a sporting event, you have to respect the sport,’ she said after her defeat of Katerina Siniakova, which took place on the same court. ‘And I feel like it’s common courtesy to read up on the sport, especially the etiquette.’I feel like 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 first-round match. Naomi Osaka called for fans new to tennis to learn the sport’s etiquette after her match was disrupted by influencers’Overall I think there is huge positives,’ she added, on the topic of influencers more generally. ‘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.’ Etiquette largely dictates that fans should save conversation and movement for changeovers or set breaks, when the players are at the chairs. But in 2024, the US Open switched to a policy of ‘free fan movement’, which allows spectators to move during points regardless of on-court action. Of the incident itself, Osaka said that she had been more bothered by the noise inside the stadium during both her matches – a constant chatter which complements the endless movement – than the flash lights themselves. ‘I was going to say today the umpire, she told everyone to be quiet more than I’ve ever heard an umpire tell a crowd to be quiet,’ she continued. ‘I do think in my first match, I wasn’t really paying attention. I tell people I normally just focus on the match and the court, but there was a moment where there was, like, people shouting, and you could hear it quite clearly. I think it bothered my opponent, too.’Maybe that’s what you were talking about, but I’ve heard some people say, like, the lights or whatever. I don’t really see the lights, because obviously, when you are serving, you’re looking at the sun or you’re looking at the night lights. It was more the noise.’ Daily Mail Sport contacted the tournament for comment on the incident, with US Open head of communications Brendan McIntyre sharing the following statement: ‘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. ‘These instances happen infrequently, and similar to when crowd noise reaches a certain level, our chair umpires have the ability to address the crowd when they occur.’ READ MORE – How influencers are killing the US Open and turning it into a ‘zoo’: Angry top stars hit out at ‘disrespectful’ and noisy content creators disrupting matches for pictures