The US Open OnlyFans star

Sachia Vickery, a 559th-ranked player, lost her qualifying match yesterday, but likely gained new followers from her activity off the court: OnlyFans. That’s right, Vickery charges $12.99 a month for any fan or sexually-charged viewer to subscribe to exclusive content. During an Instagram Q&A this week, she said, “I’m very open-minded and I don’t care what people think of me. It’s also the easiest money I’ve ever made and enjoy doing it.”

Clutch your pearls and breathe. Your first thought might be: Does she need money? Why else would an athlete of her stature resort to OnlyFans.

Vickery is hardly broke. She made a reported $2 million in 14 years of professional tennis and even cracked the top 100 in 2018. The former 73rd ranked ATP player, however, possibly saw the biggest surge in earnings when she launched her OnlyFans account in January. When you fall out of the top 100 in professional tennis, the challenger circuit proves rigorous and low-earning (that’s putting it mildly).

“I will never talk shit about girls on OnlyFans ever again for the rest of my life,” the American elaborated in her Instagram Q&A. “Because the amount I made on there in my first two days, I am overwhelmed. I am just shook really.”

No doubt others are doing the smack talking for her. Not for what she is doing but how she’s doing it. It is wildly controversial to tout another stream of business during one of the major grand slams – given it is one with such a negative connotations.

The US Open is considered a pinnacle gemstone of the sport. Sure, you might play mere blocks away from grimy subway stops and run-down bodegas in Queens, New York, but on Arthur Ashe grounds there is an expected decorum. You should not simultaneously shill a website for adult-content when legions of little girls and boys are watching you play on the highest stage.

The US Open comes after Wimbledon – by far the most polished of grand slams – in the sporting calendar. The decorous All England Club orders players to uniformly wear all-white attire with small allowances for dark undershorts for female players. Always one to clash with the rules, Nick Kyrgios defied this policy in 2022 when he wore red Nike Air Jordan 1 shoes and a red hat in his fourth round match. While he was forced to change into all-white shoes for the match, he slipped those same blazing red sneakers back on in his post-match press conference.

Kyrgios was reportedly fined $16,000 for his ensemble choice. US Open officials or her coach should have taken notes from Wimbledon and intervened with Vickery as well.

Ironically, like Vickery, the brash Australian player and occasional television presenter (who is exceptional on broadcasts) also partnered with OnlyFans in 2023. Kyrgios does not share any explicit content, just days-in-the-life and behind the scene tennis looks and conversations. Thus, Vickery is not alone in her outside-of-the-box endeavor.

If Kyrgios, once the 16th best tennis player in the world, can launch a platform for business outside of the traditional athlete endorsement model, a woman can too. Both have every right to monetize parts of their life and celebrity within reason. As long as there is no nudity or sexual activity, personally, the OnlyFans model does not upset this writer. In fact, as a capitalist, anyone should make a buck off their likeness and image rather than magazines using and manipulating it for their gain because OnlyFans is lucrative. It can be an easy Wolf of Wall Street like cash flow there, especially for women.

But OnlyFans is intrinsically tied to a stereotype of sex work – because, yes, there is an abundance of it on the platform. Vickery is someone who could otherwise leave tennis and join the professional workforce in various lucrative roles with her 40,000 Instagram followers and athletic accomplishments. Instead, she used the most eye-catching time of the sport to distract from her career and snag more OnlyFans subscribers. Should she be banned? No. Is she unprofessional? Yes.

Vickery may read this article in a mansion paid for by OnlyFans. That’s her right and prerogative. But proceed with caution. Those dollars you side-hustle for may also wrack up a different kind of debt. One that’s harder to pay off because of the incalculable cost to your integrity.