Aryna Sabalenka Addresses Cannabis Distraction at US Open
Aryna Sabalenka has dealt with hostile crowds, suffocating pressure and Grand Slam finals. On Friday in New York, the world No 1 had to deal with something else entirely: a cloud of cannabis drifting across Louis Armstrong Stadium.
She had already ripped through the opening games against Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova, racing to a 3-0 lead on her way to a routine straight-sets win, when the match took a surreal turn. Midway through her second service game, Sabalenka paused, stepped back from the baseline and looked up at the chair.
“Someone is smoking weed,” she told umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore at 30-0. “Would you mind to… because it’s so strong.”
Play briefly halted as Sabalenka gestured toward the stands, the interruption breaking the usual hum of a third-round night at the US Open. The Belarusian soon reset, closed out the game and, ultimately, the match with the authority expected of the top seed. Yet the smell lingered — and so did the story.
Later, in the interview room, Sabalenka cut a relaxed figure as she unpacked the incident. She made it clear she was not trying to police anyone’s off-court fun, only the timing and location.
“I was like, Guys, you can do whatever, you can smoke whatever, you can relax as much as you can, but please do not do it around the tennis courts,” she said with a smile. “It’s a bit tricky to handle that smell while you’re trying to compete at your best.”
For players at Flushing Meadows, the odour is becoming an annual subplot. Cannabis has become a familiar, if unwanted, part of the sensory backdrop at the US Open, with several competitors in recent years noting the distraction during matches.
The contradiction is built into the setting. Recreational cannabis is legal in New York for adults 21 and over, but smoking is not allowed inside the grounds. The problem lies just beyond the fences. Flushing Meadows-Corona Park wraps around the tennis complex, and when the breeze picks up, smoke from the park can drift into the stadiums and across the courts.
Sabalenka said she had caught whiffs of cannabis at the tournament before. This time, though, the smell was impossible to ignore.
“That strong, yeah. Also, because it was a bit windy,” she said. “I don’t know if it was coming from the crowd or was from the outside because the wind blows it into the stadium.”
Security and officials can control only so much inside the arena. The wind, and what happens in the park, is another matter. For a player trying to lock in on second-serve returns and break points, it becomes one more layer of distraction in a sport already obsessed with fine margins.
Sabalenka, who has built her rise to No 1 on power, aggression and an increasingly steely focus, simply wants that focus respected.
“I just hope they are a bit more aware of that stuff,” she said, before laughing as reporters circled back to the same topic yet again. “Come on, guys. I think there is nothing else to say about weed. I’m just asking people not to smoke it next to the tennis court.”
In New York, the wind will keep swirling, the park will keep filling, and the US Open will roll on. Sabalenka’s message is simple enough: light up if you like — just don’t let the smoke drift into her office.
