World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka had an unusual interruption during her third-round match at US Open when a strong smell of marijuana drifted into Louis Armstrong Stadium. World No.1 was leading Kamilla Rakhimova when she suddenly stopped and spoke to chair umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore about the smell coming from around the stands. The interruption briefly broke rhythm, but Sabalenka managed to stay focused and went on to beat Rakhimova 6-3, 6-4, booking her place in the fourth round. The incident quickly became one of the more unexpected moments of the tournament.
Sabalenka was direct when she raised an issue with the umpire, saying, “Someone is smoking weed. Do you mind? Because it’s so strong.” Officials were alerted, but the source of the smell could not be clearly identified. Speaking afterwards, Sabalenka explained, “I was like, guys, you can do whatever. You can smoke, whatever. You can relax as much as you can. But please don’t do it around the tennis courts.” She added, “It’s a bit tricky to handle that smell while you’re trying to compete at your best.” Sabalenka also admitted wind may have carried the smell into the stadium, saying, “I don’t know if it was coming from the crowd or the outside because wind blows it into the stadium.” She finished with a simple request, “I just hope they’re gonna be a bit more aware of that stuff.”
Aryan Sabalenka calls for tennis schedule change after Carlos Alcaraz reveals his plans of taking break from tennis
Carlos Alcaraz’s recent comments about taking longer breaks from tennis have found strong support from World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. Alcaraz recently said he plans to miss some tournaments in future because playing almost every week is becoming too difficult for players to manage. Sabalenka agreed with him and believes ATP and WTA need to give players more freedom when deciding their schedules. The issue has become increasingly important as players deal with packed calendars, longer tournaments and concerns around injuries and fatigue.
Sabalenka made her position clear when asked about Alcaraz’s comments, “I would love to see changes to the calendar and eliminate the mandatory events to let the players decide what’s best for their health.” She added, “It’s been incredibly intense. Especially if you play at the level Carlos plays, which is basically very consistent, it’s very hard on the body.” Sabalenka also warned that players may eventually have to choose their health over rankings if nothing changes. “If they’re not going to reduce it, we’ll have to sacrifice points, ranking position, whatever it takes, to protect our bodies. I think it would be really helpful for the WTA and ATP to relax the calendar a bit for us in order to truly support our health.”
