Of all the things that might interrupt a US Open match, a spectator smoking m***juana in the stands would definitely rank among the more unlikely culprits. And yet, that is apparently exactly what happened during Aryna Sabalenka‘s third-round match on Friday. And for Fox host Laura Ingraham, the incident reflected poorly on the city hosting one of tennis’s grandest stages.
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“This is an embarrassment for New York. Horrible,” Ingraham wrote, reacting to a video of the incident on X.
As seen in the footage, Aryna Sabalenka had to briefly pause her match at Louis Armstrong Stadium after noticing an overwhelming smell of m**ijuana drifting onto the court. The world No. 1 and two-time defending champion was leading Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova when the distinct scent became impossible to ignore, prompting her to walk directly to the umpire and address it without hesitation.
“Someone is smoking w***. Do you mind? Because it’s so strong,” she said.
And of course, the umpire responded by signalling into her radio to have security investigate the source. However, as it appears, no specific fans were identified, caught, or ejected from the stands as a result.
Interestingly, this is actually not the first time this has happened at the US Open, and at this very same venue. In previous years, players including Nick Kyrgios, Maria Sakkari, and Alexander Zverev have all raised complaints about similar issues at Louis Armstrong Stadium specifically. In fact, in her own postgame remarks, Sabalenka acknowledged that she had encountered the smell at the tournament before, but noted that Friday’s occurrence was noticeably stronger than anything she had previously experienced.
“That strong, yeah. Also, because it was a bit windy,” she said when asked whether it was a first for her.
For Sabalenka, however, the bigger frustration was less about the substance itself and more about the setting in which it was being used.
“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,'” she said.
And just like she mentioned, there’s a possibility that the smell might also have been coming from the surrounding area. The Louis Armstrong Stadium sits directly adjacent to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, a public space where people may well have been smoking recreationally, since c***abis is legal for adults in New York. And so, the wind conditions on the day could have likely carried the smell directly into the playing area.
But most importantly, the distraction did nothing to derail Aryna Sabalenka’s performance. She maintained her composure throughout and went on to win the match in straight sets, winning 6-3, 6-4, to advance comfortably to the fourth round. She will now face 96th-ranked Taylor Townsend in the fourth round on Sunday.