Aryna Sabalenka Faces Unwelcome Cannabis Odor at US Open

Aryna Sabalenka arrived on Louis Armstrong Stadium locked in, ruthless, and already three games up when something far from tennis cut through the New York evening.

The smell hit her mid-serve.

World number one, top seed, chasing another deep run at the US Open — and suddenly she was waving not at her box, but at the chair umpire, pointing toward the stands and complaining about a strong whiff of cannabis drifting across the court.

Play stopped. The crowd murmured. Sabalenka made her point, the umpire listened, and the match paused for a moment while the scene settled. Then, with a shrug that felt almost like a concession to the city itself, they carried on.

This is Flushing Meadows in 2020s New York. The tennis is elite. The distractions are unique.

The odour of cannabis has become a recurring, and for many players deeply unwelcome, part of the US Open landscape. The open design of the grounds, the proximity of Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, and New York’s laws — recreational cannabis is legal for adults over 21 — create a strange collision between major-championship focus and park-life reality.

Smoking is banned inside the tournament grounds, yet the smoke outside does not respect the boundaries. It drifts over fences, through gaps, into arenas that host the sport’s biggest names and biggest moments. On Friday, even Sabalenka, usually so insulated by her intensity, could not ignore it.

She had sprinted to a 3-0 lead over Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova, dictating from the baseline, when the smell became too strong to brush aside. During her second service game, she walked toward the umpire, gestured toward the stands, and raised the issue clearly enough that the interruption became part of the spectacle.

Then the racket came back up, the ball tossed into the air, and the match resumed.

For all the talk of court speed, ball changes, and night-session atmospheres, this is another element players now factor into their New York experience: the possibility that a Grand Slam match might be played through a haze that has nothing to do with pressure.

Sabalenka handled it, as champions tend to do, but the moment underlined a simple truth about the US Open. You can control your serve, your footwork, your tactics.

You cannot always control what drifts in from the park.