At the US Open in Queens, Belarusian tennis champion Aryna Sabalenka paused mid-match to ask an umpire to address marijuana smoke drifting across the court — a moment small in duration but large in implication. Since New York legalized cannabis, the boundaries between spectator freedom and athlete welfare have grown increasingly blurred at one of sport's most prestigious stages. The incident is less about one player's discomfort than about a deeper question every legalized city must eventually answer: when personal liberty enters shared air, who bears the cost?
Sabalenka halts US Open match over marijuana smoke at stadium
Someone is smoking weed. Do you mind? Because it's so strong.
Mark
So Sabalenka actually stopped playing because of the smell? That seems like a pretty dramatic moment.
Mimi
She did. She turned to the umpire and said it was too strong. What's interesting is that she won anyway—so it didn't derail her match, but it was noticeable enough that she felt she had to say something.
Luke
Do we know for certain where the smoke was coming from? Like, was it definitely from inside the stadium, or could it have been from outside?
Mimi
The reporting says it was in the vicinity of the courts, and players have been dealing with this for a few years now. This year it seems worse because dispensaries are actively delivering to fans.
Mark
Wait, dispensaries are delivering weed to people at the US Open?
Mimi
That's what one manager said—that customers buy it specifically to make watching tennis more entertaining. It's legal in New York, so there's no law being broken.
Luke
But here's the thing: just because it's legal doesn't mean the tournament has to allow it. Venues can set their own rules about consumption on their grounds. The question is whether they will.
Mark
So what's the actual solution here?
Mimi
The suggestion that's come up is edibles instead of smoke. Fans could still consume cannabis, but without creating the airborne problem.
Luke
That's practical, but it assumes the tournament will actually enforce it. We don't know yet if they will.
Mark
Do other players seem bothered by this, or is it just Sabalenka?
Mimi
Sabalenka is the one who stopped play and spoke up publicly. Whether others are also affected, we don't know from this reporting.
Le Pouls
- Sabalenka stopped play during a professional Grand Slam match not because of her opponent, but because cannabis smoke had made the air around her court impossible to ignore.
- Local dispensaries have begun delivering marijuana directly to fans inside the tournament grounds, effectively transforming a sporting venue into something closer to a festival.
- Athletes competing at the highest level of their sport are now navigating secondhand smoke as an unplanned variable in their performance environment.
- Tournament organizers face a legal and logistical bind — outright bans conflict with New York law, yet inaction means accepting degraded conditions for competitors.
- A middle-ground solution has emerged: nudging fans toward edibles rather than smokable products, preserving legal consumption rights without sending smoke onto the courts.
- Sabalenka won her match and moved on, but her public complaint signals that other players may soon follow, forcing the US Open's hand on a policy it has so far avoided making.
At the US Open in Queens, Belarusian tennis champion Aryna Sabalenka paused mid-match to ask an umpire to address marijuana smoke drifting across the court — a moment small in duration but large in implication. Since New York legalized cannabis, the boundaries between spectator freedom and athlete welfare have grown increasingly blurred at one of sport's most prestigious stages. The incident is less about one player's discomfort than about a deeper question every legalized city must eventually answer: when personal liberty enters shared air, who bears the cost?
On a Friday afternoon at the US Open in Queens, Aryna Sabalenka did something unusual: she stopped playing to speak to the umpire about the air. The smell of marijuana had grown strong enough during her third-round match against Kamilla Rakhimova that she felt compelled to say something. She won the match, but the interruption pointed to a problem that has been quietly growing at the tournament for years.
Since New York legalized cannabis, smoke has been drifting into the stadium with increasing regularity. This year, the situation has taken a more deliberate shape — local dispensaries have reportedly begun delivering directly to fans at the grounds, and at least one manager described customers buying cannabis specifically to enhance their experience watching tennis. The venue, in effect, has begun functioning like a concert.
The tension is not about legalization itself. Spectators have a legal right to consume cannabis in New York, and that right is not in dispute. What is in dispute is whether that right, exercised in smoke form, can coexist with the professional demands placed on athletes competing at the highest level of their sport.
Organizers now face a problem without a clean solution. Enforcement against legal behavior is difficult, but allowing the status quo means accepting that matches may be played in compromised conditions. The most practical path forward may be encouraging edibles over smokable products — a compromise that honors both the law and the athletes.
Sabalenka has moved on in the draw, but her decision to stop and speak up may prove to be a turning point. The US Open will likely need to answer, sooner rather than later, whether a Grand Slam can share its air with its spectators and still call itself a professional sporting event.
Aryna Sabalenka stopped playing tennis on Friday afternoon to address something that had nothing to do with her opponent's serve. During her third-round match against Kamilla Rakhimova at the US Open in Queens, the Belarusian player turned to umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore and made a direct complaint: someone in the stadium was smoking marijuana, and the smell had become impossible to ignore. "Do you mind? Because it's so strong," she said. Sabalenka finished the match and won, but the interruption exposed a problem that has been building at the tournament for years.
Since New York legalized cannabis, the US Open has struggled with marijuana smoke drifting into the stadium and onto the courts. Players have had to compete while the air around them carried the smell. This year, the issue has intensified in a way that suggests the problem is not accidental. According to reporting, local dispensaries have begun delivering cannabis directly to fans attending the tournament, turning the grounds into something closer to a concert venue than a professional sporting event. One manager at a nearby dispensary called Silk Road told a New York outlet that customers buy weed specifically to enhance their experience watching tennis, framing it as entertainment enhancement.
The tension is real and straightforward: spectators have the legal right to consume cannabis in New York, and some are choosing to do so at the Open. But that choice has a direct cost to the athletes competing. A player trying to focus on a match, managing fatigue and pressure, should not have to negotiate secondhand smoke as part of the competition. Sabalenka's decision to stop and speak up was not a complaint about legalization itself—it was a complaint about the specific impact on her ability to perform her job.
The US Open and its organizers now face a practical problem with no easy answer. Banning cannabis consumption entirely would be difficult to enforce and would conflict with New York law. But allowing the current situation to continue means accepting that some matches will be played in conditions that distract and potentially affect the athletes. One proposed solution has emerged: encourage fans to use edibles instead of smokable products. This would allow spectators to consume cannabis without creating the airborne smoke that drifts into playing areas. It is a middle ground that respects both the legal right to use cannabis and the professional environment the tournament is supposed to provide.
For now, Sabalenka has moved forward in the tournament despite the disruption. But her moment of stopping play and asking the umpire to address the smoke suggests that other players may follow, and that the US Open will need to make a decision about how it manages this recurring issue. The question is not whether cannabis should be legal—that decision has already been made in New York. The question is whether a major sporting event can function when the air itself becomes part of the problem.
Citations marquantes
Sabalenka told umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore that the marijuana smell was 'so strong' and asked if someone could address it— Aryna Sabalenka, during her US Open match
A dispensary manager stated that customers buy cannabis specifically to make watching tennis more entertaining— Tre Davidson, manager at Silk Road dispensary, to The New York Post
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