Wimbledon chief: Military-trained security would love to ‘sort out’ influencers
Wimbledon chief: Military-trained security would love to ‘sort out’ influencers
Sonia TwiggThu, October 8, 2026 at 4:15 PM UTC
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A group of influencers delayed play during the US Open as they held a photoshoot while using a portable light
Wimbledon are not concerned with influencers becoming an issue because their military-trained security would like “nothing more than to sort them out”.
One of the biggest talking points during last month’s US Open was the disruption caused by the influx of social media personalities, many of whom ignored tennis’s traditional etiquette.
Richard Atkinson, the interim chief executive of the All England Club was speaking at the Leaders Week conference at Stamford Bridge, when he began discussing the cultural difference between the hushed silence of Wimbledon and the brazen US Open.
“If you’ve ever been to the US Open, it’s very New York City, right? It is mad, it is noisy, there’s all sorts of stuff going on,” he said.
“It’s dead easy for someone who just bought a ticket to show up there with the ring lights and start broadcasting literally in the middle of the match.
“If you try to do that at Wimbledon, I think you’d probably have some Royal Marine Commando [stopping you]. We do have military there and they would like nothing more, I suspect, than to sort out some influencers.”
The Princess of Wales speaks with a member of the Armed Forces at Wimbledon in 2023 - Victoria Jones/PA
During the US Open this year, arguably the most poignant talking point from the opening week was the bizarre scenario where a dozen or so people did a TikTok routine during Naomi Osaka’s first-round match.
The chair umpire Kader Nouni had to ask the group to sit down, and Osaka herself said afterwards that it is “common courtesy to read up on the sport, especially the etiquette”.
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Coco Gauff added another quip, that “you wouldn’t wear jeans on the red carpet”, after almost 100 influencers were handed accreditation to the event in Flushing Meadows.
Wimbledon has a ban on fans bringing many items into the grounds of SW19 – including ring lights – and does not plan to offer influencers or content creators accreditation.
However, many are invited by one of its partner brands, and social media is awash with content shot at SW19, often focusing on anything but the tennis.
The US Open has always been far more raucous than the Championships, but Atkinson believes there is a place in SW19 for those who have cultivated substantial social media followings.
“Clearly influencers are a crucial part of building a brand around the world in the third decade of the 21st century,” he said.
“What you have to do is keep them under control. Our partners Polo Ralph Lauren will have influencers tightly chaperoned.
“It’s a piece of the market, I think. We are not a world of just newspapers and television any more. The world has changed but it’s just really important that you deal with it in a Wimbledon way.
“But, to say, ‘We are not going to be having influencers at Wimbledon’, is obviously nonsense. Our marketing team works meticulously to make sure that they’re doing things in a way that’s consistent with our brand. It’s self-policing, it really is.”
Source: “AOL Sports”
