At US Open 2026 Aryna Sabalenka was unexpectedly stopped not by an opponent, but by... the smell of marijuana.
During the third-round match against Kamilla Rakhimova at Louis Armstrong Stadium, Sabalenka twice started her serve, but dropped the ball and stopped. Then she approached the umpire and said:
"Someone is smoking weed. Could you... because the smell is very strong."
The game was briefly paused while the umpire contacted the stadium staff. Where exactly the smell came from was never determined: Sabalenka suggested that the smoke could have been carried by the wind from the park next to the complex.
After the match, Aryna was already laughing:
"Guys, you can relax however you want, smoke whatever you want — just, please, not near the tennis court."
Sabalenka still calmly won 6:3, 6:4 and advanced to the next round.
By the way, such complaints at the US Open are not new: marijuana is legal for adults in New York, and the smell periodically wafts onto the courts from the surrounding park.
So this time, the world number one's opponent for a while was the very atmosphere of New York. 😄
