The US Open’s plan to grow the sport with content creators is not going the way they had hoped. Two social media influencers abruptly leaving the event premises has now raised questions about the credentialing process of the tournament, but they were quick to issue a response.
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In an interview conducted exclusively by Amelie Claydon of The Athletic, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) refuted allegations made by social media influencers Meg Radice and Audrey Jongens, founders of The VIP List, a restaurant and lifestyle website for New York, that they were kicked out because of photos of their credentials posted online.
“These individuals were not credentialed as media or content creators,” said Brendan McIntyre, managing director and head of US Open, Professional Tennis and USA Tennis Content & Communications of the USTA, in a statement to Claydon. “They were improperly submitted for credentials on a staff list provided by a food vendor.”
The version put forward by McIntyre contradicts what the influencers had earlier told the TMZ interviewers about how their passes had been revoked about two hours after they arrived. Radice and Jongens together have a following of more than 590,000 on both TikTok and Instagram, and they were supposed to create content from within the tournament grounds as a vendor.
Radice and Jongens maintained that they never intended to break any rules while having their interview at the event with TMZ.
“We go every year; we are diehard tennis fans,” the pair said. “It is literally our dream. We were there to be respectful and follow the rules.”
This debate is part of the existing one about how much access content producers should get at Flushing Meadows, which has been going on ever since the USTA introduced the influencers’ program in 2025.
Jessica Pegula also added to the discussion about the issue in a recent press conference.
“I do think that it’s tough when you see videos like that when they’re taking pictures and using the selfie lights,” Pegula said. “People are down there trying to perform, and it’s their career and their job. It seems a bit disrespectful.”
The comments come amid a spate of court interruptions at the event, which saw an interrupted match between two-time champion Naomi Osaka and Anastasia Zakharova because of a photo shoot that caught the eye of the chair umpire.
The Medvedev optimism is in line with the figures the USTA is quoting internally. According to Jonathan Zipper, Senior Director of Social Media at USTA, the 2025 creator community managed to record 5.5 million engagements, which the organization is planning to double this year within a new group of 100 creators.
The growth in the numbers makes it quite clear why the Radice and Jongens story carries significance beyond the loss of one credential. It highlights issues in the process of providing and tracking access to an event that is scaling up its influencer program.
According to Jeanmarie Daly, who serves as the director of media and photo operations and special events at the USTA, approved influencers have equal access to the event as journalists, including media center access and general press conferences.
The 2026 credential terms make it clear that individuals who have received these credentials should not be posting them on social media. Neither Radice, Jongens, nor the company that sent their credentials has made any official response to the claims made by the USTA.