Is it just me, or is the US Open just as big, if not bigger, than Fashion Week this year? (It’s not me.) It has become as much a luxury hospitality event as a tennis tournament. That’s great for those who know nothing about tennis and are perfectly happy eating $100 Coqodaq chicken nuggets topped with Petrossian caviar next to an influencer holding a ring light, but what about the rest of us? Some of us actually care if Ben Shelton can break Carlos Alcaraz and whether Aryna Sabalenka can three-peat.
I am far from a “tennis prude,” and the US Open has always had a livelier atmosphere than the other Grand Slams. (What do you expect when people are throwing back $23 Honey Deuce cocktails all day and all night?) But things are starting to get a little out of control in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
On top of all the influencer drama that has already happened, Meg Radice and Audrey Jongens, the women behind the food-and-lifestyle account The VIP List, had their access revoked after entering on credentials supplied through a food vendor that the USTA said was not authorized to credential creators. (The women have already spoken about it to TMZ and posted several videos about it.) Wimbledon saying it will not credential influencers in 2027 is also getting a lot of attention, but as Hard Court’s Jessica Schiffer points out, Wimbledon has never credentialed influencers.
And while the lobster roll has been the unofficial go-to at the US Open for years, this year it has been dethroned by a new, more social-media-savvy sandwich: TikTok chef Salt Hank’s $38 prime-rib French dip, with his West Village restaurant pausing normal service while he focused on the Open.
