“Marijuana in the stands”: Aryna Sabalenka puts a stop to it all

Aryna Sabalenka briefly paused her U.S. Open match against Uzbek player Kamilla Rakhimova because she was bothered by a spectator smoking marijuana in the stands behind her.

The incident occurred during the third game of the first set, when the world No. 1 loudly complained to the chair umpire about what was happening behind her: “Someone is smoking weed in the stands,” warned the “Tiger of Minsk.”

“Would you mind saying something? The smell is very strong over there,” continued the Belarusian athlete, who asked that action be taken. The umpire requested assistance via radio—presumably to call in security—and the match resumed after a few moments.

Sabalenka, who won in two sets, 6-3, 6-4, jokingly brought up the issue again at the press conference: “If they keep smoking, I’ll end up getting high myself. I say, guys, you can do whatever you want. You can smoke whatever you want. Go ahead and relax as much as possible. But please, don’t do it around the tennis courts. It’s a bit tricky to deal with that stench while you’re trying to compete at your best. I don’t know if it was coming from the crowd or from outside, because the wind blows it into the stadium. I just hope they’ll be a little more careful about this…”.

This isn’t the first time it’s happened at this year’s U.S. Open: other athletes have also complained about the smell of weed wafting onto the court.