Aryna Sabalenka led 3-0 in the first set on Louis Armstrong Stadium on Friday when she stopped, turned to chair umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore and asked her to do something about the smell drifting across the court. “Someone is smoking weed, so do you mind…” the world number one said. “It’s so strong.” Asderaki-Moore radioed an official and made a smoking gesture towards the stands behind her, play resumed, and Sabalenka went on to beat Kamilla Rakhimova 6-3 6-4 in 88 minutes to reach the fourth round.
A brief stoppage, then business as usual
The interruption barely dented a performance that was close to flawless on serve. Sabalenka struck 10 aces and 29 winners, dropped just one double fault and did not face a single break point across the two sets. The win was her 16th in a row at Flushing Meadows, a streak that stretches back to the start of her 2024 title run.
Rakhimova, ranked outside the world’s top 80 and playing under the Uzbekistan flag since switching allegiance from Russia in December, was the more competitive of the two in the second set, holding serve to 4-4 before Sabalenka broke through at the decisive moment.
“She played incredible tennis, she really pushed me so hard in the second set,” Sabalenka said afterwards. “I’m super happy that I was able to close this match in straight sets because she’s a fighter.”
On the smell itself, she was matter-of-fact. “It’s a bit tricky to handle that smell while you’re trying to compete at your best,” 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.”
An old problem at Flushing Meadows
Sabalenka is not the first player at this year’s tournament to raise it. Katie Boulter called the smell distracting during the first week, and compatriots Harriet Dart and Francesca Jones both said they had noticed it on court. Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev have made the same complaint at previous editions.
The issue first became a talking point in 2023, when Maria Sakkari cited the smell after a shock defeat on Court 17 and another player on the same court said it was like being in “Snoop Dogg’s living room”. Jelena Ostapenko has said she smells it in virtually every match she plays in New York.
The circumstances are unusual to the venue rather than to the sport. Smoking is not permitted anywhere inside the grounds, and the USTA has consistently pointed out that it cannot police what happens beyond the perimeter. Recreational cannabis has been legal in New York for adults aged 21 and over since 2021, and the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center sits inside Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, a public space where smoke drifts in on the prevailing wind. Outer courts, and open-roofed stadiums such as Armstrong, are the most exposed.
That leaves the tournament with a problem it can acknowledge but not solve. Officials can respond to a complaint from the crowd, as Asderaki-Moore did on Friday. They cannot close down a park.
What it means for the title defence
None of it has slowed the top seed. Sabalenka has not dropped a set in three matches and is bidding for a third consecutive US Open crown, which would make her the first woman to achieve it since Serena Williams won three in a row between 2012 and 2014. A fifth Grand Slam singles title overall would move her clear of the group of four-time major winners of her generation.
The route gets considerably harder next. She faces the winner of 15th seed Diana Shnaider and Taylor Townsend, the 96th-ranked American who has the crowd and a grass-and-hard-court game built on volleying that few players on tour are comfortable against. Shnaider carries a more pointed threat: the Russian left-hander knocked Sabalenka out of the French Open quarter-finals in June, the defeat that ended her bid for a first Roland Garros title.
Sabalenka’s record in New York suggests the distractions matter less than the serve. Sixteen straight wins, no break points conceded on Friday, and a first week completed without a genuine scare. Whatever is blowing in over the fence, it has not reached the scoreboard.
—
Sources: [Yahoo Sports](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/strong-sabalenka-halts-play-over-173457624.html), [France 24](https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260904-top-seed-sabalenka-powers-into-us-open-fourth-round), [Fox News](https://www.foxnews.com/sports/us-open-player-backs-claim-marijuana-smell-court-17-snoop-doggs-living-room.amp), [Sports Illustrated](https://www.si.com/tennis/2023/08/29/maria-sakkari-bemoans-marijuana-scent-after-u-s-open-ouster), [Wikipedia — Kamilla Rakhimova](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamilla_Rakhimova)
Article is 716 words. Two notes: reports disagree on Rakhimova’s exact ranking (87 vs 92), so I wrote around it; and one wire report claimed a third straight title would put Sabalenka alongside only Evert and Navratilova, which is wrong (Serena Williams won 2012-14), so I used the Serena comparison instead.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
750 articles published
