Katie Boulter Addresses Cannabis Smell at US Open
Katie Boulter is ready for the noise, the lights and the pressure of New York. The smell, not so much.
As the US Open prepares to open its gates at Flushing Meadows on Sunday, Britain’s number one has admitted that drifting cannabis fumes around the grounds are becoming an unwelcome part of the experience.
“It’s something that I wouldn’t like to smell in the middle of my match,” said Boulter, ranked 60 in the world, as she fine-tuned her preparations for a first‑round meeting with American wildcard Carol Young Suh Lee. “I’m trying to focus and then obviously, it takes you out of the moment and you really don’t want to. You don’t need distractions.”
In New York, cannabis is legal for adults over 21, and while smoking is banned inside the US Open grounds, the tournament’s vast complex backs directly onto Corona Park. On certain courts, the breeze does the rest.
Boulter has felt it before.
“I know a lot of players have complained on some of the specific courts,” she said. “I’ve played on one before and I did smell it during my match. I’m not a huge fan of it. You can smell it a lot on the practice courts.”
This is no new subplot at Flushing Meadows. The smell has lingered around the event for years, occasionally forcing its way into the narrative of matches on some of the outer courts.
In 2022, Nick Kyrgios stopped during a match to complain that a fan smoking courtside was affecting his asthma, prompting the umpire to appeal to the crowd. Last year Maria Sakkari pointed out the odour to the chair during a changeover, later stressing that it was not the reason for her defeat.
The United States Tennis Association insists it is not ignoring the issue. It says it works with local police and the parks department to clamp down on smoking around the perimeter of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
“While we can't control what takes place off the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, we continue to be vigilant as we maintain this,” the organisation said.
Yet for players, the reality is simple: if the wind is right, it’s there.
Britain’s qualifiers have noticed it too. Fran Jones, who came through on Friday to earn a main-draw spot and will face Poland’s Magda Linette on Monday, recalled her own introduction to Flushing Meadows’ more pungent side.
“Last year I made a joke about that, in my first round,” she said. “I said to the guy, ‘Is this normal?’ Because I was on the stadium, and it's next to the park. He's like, ‘Yeah’. And I was like: ‘Well, no wonder I'm playing pretty well.’”
The line came with a smile, but Jones knows there is a balance to strike.
“This year I’ll be like, ‘No, lock in, lock in!’”
Harriet Dart, who beat fellow Brit Heather Watson in qualifying to book a first‑round match against American Peyton Stearns, sounded more resigned than irritated.
“I mean it’s New York. It’s New York,” she said. “I feel like everywhere you walk around, it’s everywhere, no? It is what it is. Same for everyone.”
That, in the end, is the crux. The smell does not discriminate. It drifts across courts and practice areas, touches qualifiers and seeds alike. Some laugh it off, some bristle, some barely mention it.
For Boulter, though, every marginal gain matters. She arrives as Britain’s leading woman, seeded to push beyond the early rounds and keen to build on a season that has nudged her towards the game’s top tier. Distractions, however small, feel like a luxury she cannot afford.
New York will bring its usual chaos: sirens in the distance, rumbling trains, restless crowds. The tennis has always learned to live with that. The question now is whether the city’s newest habit becomes just another quirk of Flushing Meadows, or a problem the sport is finally forced to confront.
