Naomi Osaka Was Mid-Serve at the US Open. A Group of Influencers Started a Photoshoot Behind Her Anyway.

Naomi Osaka was at deuce, serving in the fourth game of the second set, when the disruption started. Not from the crowd noise or a heckler — from a hospitality suite directly behind the baseline, where a cluster of social media influencers had decided mid-match was the right moment for a photoshoot.

Osaka was facing 101st-ranked Anastasia Zakharova in the first round when chair umpire Kader Nouni had to stop play. Footage from the stadium shows a woman in the suite using a large, bright light to photograph a spectator, while others in the group wandered and posed for pictures — all clearly visible from the court. Nouni addressed them directly over the stadium microphone: "Guys, please, in the suite behind me, thank you guys, please take your seat."

Once the group settled down, Osaka returned to serve — and immediately struggled with her ball toss, tossing twice and never finding her rhythm. She apologized to Zakharova across the net before losing the point, handing her opponent the advantage in that game. It wasn't nothing: professional servers rely on total stillness in their sightline, and a flash of movement and light behind the baseline is exactly the kind of thing that breaks concentration.

Osaka shook off the moment and closed out the match in straight sets, needing two tiebreaks to get past Zakharova. But the clip of Nouni's exasperated announcement spread fast, reigniting a running argument at this year's tournament: the US Open has actively courted influencer culture with dedicated content suites and creator credentials, and players are increasingly finding that culture bleeding directly into their court time.

Osaka is no stranger to speaking her mind about the pressures around a match — she's built a public reputation on being candid about exactly this kind of noise. Whether the tournament changes anything about suite access before her next match remains to be seen.