Aryna Sabalenka’s frustrations got the best of her once again on Friday. During her match against Kamilla Rakhimova at the U.S. Open, she stopped play to complain about the strong smell of weed.
Sabalenka approached the chair umpire during the third game of the contest to tell the umpire, “Someone is smoking marijuana. Do you mind? Because it’s so strong.”
“Yeah,” the umpire replied, gesturing to someone to her right, indicating that someone was smoking. U.S. Open employees then reportedly went into the crowd to try to locate the source of the weed smell.
Apparently, they either got it sorted out or the world number one just figured out how to deal with the smell, because she went on to win the match in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.
The smell of weed is a common complaint during the U.S. Open
Aryna Sabalenka is far from the first tennis player to complain about the smell of weed at the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, New York. In fact, she isn’t the first one to do so during this year’s tournament.
“I’m not a huge fan of it. I know a lot of players have complained on some of the specific courts. I’ve played on one before and I did smell it during my match,” Katie Boulter said last week.
“It’s something that I wouldn’t like to smell in the middle of my match. 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. So yeah, I wasn’t a huge fan of it.”
In 2022, Nick Kyrgios complained about the stench of weed inside Louis Armstrong Stadium during his match with Benjamin Bonzi and asserted it was hampering his performance.
In 2023, Alexander Zverev said Court 17 “smells like Snoop Dogg’s living room.”
And during last year’s U.S. Open, after winning his first match, Casper Ruud complained about the smell of weed that he says is “everywhere” in New York.