Let the U.S. Open Fly Its Freak Flag

By Nekesa Mumbi Moody

Ms. Moody was a co-editor in chief of The Hollywood Reporter.

I love social media and I love tennis, so for two weeks my algorithm has been serving up outrage after outrage about the influencers who’ve invaded the U.S. Open.

This year’s Open already seemed to be the nadir for an experience that’s been going downhill for awhile. First, there's the increasingly exorbitant prices, then the horror expressed by luxury suite ticket holders that they no longer had private bathrooms thanks to renovations at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Most outrage-inducing, however, has been the influx of influencers: Social media stars courted and invited by the tournament’s organizers expressly to expand the audience for the tournament, but who’ve seemingly been more invested in getting likes than in promoting the tennis version of........

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