Aryna Sabalenka Navigates US Open Pressure and Distractions

Aryna Sabalenka has spent the past week trying to shut out the noise around her US Open title defence. On Saturday in New York, the noise came with a smell.

Three games into her third‑round match, cruising 3-0 up on Kamilla Rakhimova, the two-time defending champion walked towards chair umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore with a grin and a complaint.

“Someone is smoking weed, do you mind … because it’s so strong,” she said, half laughing, half exasperated.

The Belarusian still took care of business. She beat Rakhimova 6-3, 6-4, moved into the last 16 without dropping a set, and looked far closer to the ruthless version of herself that once ripped through Indian Wells and Miami in back‑to‑back weeks.

But the match will be remembered first for the interruption that wasn’t really an interruption at all – a surreal, distinctly New York moment.

Sabalenka fights through the haze

Cannabis is legal in New York, and the smell drifts around the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center as reliably as the subway rumble. Players have mentioned it before. Sabalenka has been here enough times to be used to it.

This time, though, the scent hit harder.

Afterwards she laughed as she relived the exchange: “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. It’s a bit tricky to handle that smell while you’re trying to compete at your best.”

She later admitted she had no idea where it came from. At first she thought it might be a spectator close to the court. Then she wondered if the wind had dragged it in from outside the stadium.

“That strong, yeah,” she said of the smell. “Also, because it was a bit windy. I don’t know if it was, like, coming from the crowd or was from the outside because the wind blows it into the stadium. I don’t know. I just hope they’re going to be a bit more aware of that stuff.”

The distraction didn’t touch her serve. Sabalenka landed 10 aces, faced no break points and controlled the match with the authority of a player who knows she cannot afford any slip.

She arrived in New York in her shakiest form for years, without a final since that scorching March double of Indian Wells and Miami. Her game has looked patchy, her aura dented. Here, quietly, the pieces are starting to fall back into place.

Three rounds. Three straight-sets wins. Rhythm returning.

Ranking on the line, temper on the surface

Beneath that smooth progress lies a different kind of tension. Sabalenka’s No 1 ranking, which she has held for 97 weeks, hangs by a thread. To keep it, she must complete an extraordinary hat-trick and win a third straight US Open title – and even that may not be enough if world No 2 Elena Rybakina drives deep into the second week.

The pressure has been visible away from the baseline.

After her emphatic second‑round win over Polina Iatcenko, Sabalenka bristled in the press room when a reporter characterised her pre‑tournament days as “parties and fun”. It was the second time during this US Open that a question had hinted her commercial and media duties might have cut into her preparation.

“You guys are, like, a joke,” she fired back. “‘Parties, fun …’ like, why would you even say that? Why would you even think about that? What kind of question is that? Just because I posted, like, some activities with brands, and you think that I’ve been partying, not training?”

The exchange ran long and grew heated. Eventually she cut it off with a pointed instruction: “Think before you say stuff.”

On court, she has done exactly that. She has stripped her tennis back to basics: big first serve, first-strike aggression, clean scorelines. Off court, the margin for misinterpretation has clearly worn thin.

Townsend awaits, crowd ready

The next test will not come from the stands or the interview room but from across the net – and from a player who will have the crowd roaring with her.

Taylor Townsend, a home favourite and a crowd magnet, is back in the second week in New York after another bold run. The American backed up last year’s charge to the fourth round by beating 15th seed Diana Shnaider 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-3.

Townsend’s all‑court game and fearless net rushing can rattle rhythm players. Sabalenka, who has not yet been pushed to a deciding set, will face a very different kind of match: a left-hander feeding off the energy of an American night session, ready to take the ball early and the crowd with her.

If Sabalenka wants to keep her ranking and her title defence alive, she will need to silence more than just the scent in the air.

Medvedev moves with minimal fuss

On the men’s side, another former champion is quietly tightening his grip on the tournament.

Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 US Open winner, eased into the fourth round with a clean 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over 29th seed Arthur Rinderknech. No drama, no theatrics, just the familiar grind of flat groundstrokes, deep returning and relentless depth that slowly suffocates opponents.

It was the kind of win that doesn’t dominate the highlight reels but sends a clear message: Medvedev is playing himself into form again in New York.

Alcaraz shakes off the rust

If Medvedev is building quietly, Carlos Alcaraz is growing louder with every round.

The defending champion, returning from a four-and-a-half month layoff after injuring his right wrist in early April, dismantled Wu Yibing 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 to reach the last 16. The scoreline looked straightforward; the performance had more layers.

For two sets, Alcaraz had to think his way through tight passages, hold his nerve, and find solutions on the fly. When the big points arrived, his level jumped. By the third set, he was in full flow, accelerating through rallies, dictating with the forehand and playing with the swagger that has already made him a two-time major champion.

“To be honest, I’m better than I thought,” he admitted. “Physically, I thought I was going to be bad after the first match but I’m recovering really well, I’m doing great things off the court out be in a good shape and right now I think my level is good. I’ve got the rhythm of the competition. Every time I step on to the court, I give it my all.”

Next comes 20th seed Tommy Paul, an American who had to claw his way through a five‑setter against 15th seed Alexander Bublik, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-3. Paul will bring pace, variety and a partisan crowd. Alcaraz will bring the sense that, even early in his comeback, he remains brutally hard to beat on this court.

Sabalenka, Medvedev, Alcaraz. Three former champions, three very different stories, all moving into the second week. New York has already thrown them wind, questions, pressure – and, in Sabalenka’s case, a cloud of cannabis.

The real test now is whether anyone can blow them off course.