The US Open has always been the unruliest of tennis\u2019s four grand slam tournaments, a place where the soundtrack is as much screeching trains, the roar of air traffic overhead and well-lubricated crowds as it is the thwack of racket on ball. Frances Tiafoe likes to call it \u201corganized chaos\u201d, the sort of life-affirming atmosphere that he says teases out his best performances. For some, it\u2019s no stage at all but a blur of bass-heavy changeovers, revolving-door celebrity cameos and the ceaseless rattle of the nearby No 7 subway.<\/p>\n
In recent years, though, one distraction has cut through even the normalized bedlam that gives the tournament its character. Alongside the honey deuce cocktails and free-flowing Heineken, a different vice has threaded itself into the fortnight: the pungent and unmistakable odor of marijuana. It drifts across the Billie Jean King National Tennis<\/a> Center with enough frequency that players have begun treating it as not a bug but a feature of the event itself.<\/p>\n Casper Ruud, the 2022 US Open runner-up from Norway, was the latest to complain during last week\u2019s mixed doubles tournament while paired with Iga \u015awi\u0105tek. \u201cFor me, this is the worst thing about New York<\/a>,\u201d he said. \u201cThe smell of cannabis. It\u2019s everywhere, even here where the tournament is being played. But we have to accept it. I think it\u2019s annoying to be on the court while someone smokes a joint. It\u2019s no fun for us players to be tired and have to inhale the smell of hashish at the same time. We can\u2019t do anything about it unless the law changes, but I doubt that will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n The complaints have been loud enough that Danish media have even dubbed Court 17 hash-banen \u2013 the \u201chash court\u201d \u2013 cheeky shorthand for the bullring-like show court where the aroma of weed has become nearly as much a part of the atmosphere as the noise of the crowd.<\/p>\n The USTA has maintained a strict no-smoking policy since at least 2011, when New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg\u2019s smoking ban was expanded to public parks, beaches and pedestrian plazas. Yet since New York legalized recreational cannabis in 2021, Flushing Meadows has become a microcosm of the state\u2019s shifting culture.<\/p>\n Within the grounds, security enforces the rules (if not aggressively). But take a few steps just outside into Corona Park, which abuts the south end of the grounds, and anyone over 21 can legally toke up: under the 2021 law, adults may possess up to 85 grams of cannabis and smoke it anywhere tobacco use is permitted. On Sunday afternoon as the first day of the tournament unfolded, smokers fired up prerolls within clear view of the gaggles of police outside the South Gate. The shift has been embraced by city leaders. Mayor Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain, even encouraged New Yorkers to \u201cenjoy yourself, light up, but most importantly \u2013 spend some money.\u201d That permissive stance, coupled with a patchy licensing rollout that has allowed hundreds of unregulated storefronts to flourish, has made cannabis feel inescapable across the five boroughs \u2013 and this particular expanse of Queens is no exception.<\/p>\n The smell of weed at the US Open, however, predates legalization. In 2014, Martina Hingis remarked on it<\/a> during a doubles match on the old Grandstand court. Since then, a parade of players \u2013 Nick Kyrgios, Maria Sakkari, Alexander Zverev \u2013 have all voiced frustration. Sakkari\u2019s 2023 first-round loss to Rebeka Masarova became one of the more notorious episodes. Midway through the match she pleaded with the chair umpire about the distraction, later telling reporters: \u201cSometimes it smells food, sometimes it smells cigarettes, sometimes it smells weed. It\u2019s something that we cannot control because we\u2019re in an open space. There\u2019s a park behind. People can do whatever they want.\u201d<\/p>\n Kyrgios, combustible at the best of times, was incensed during his second-round win over Benjamin Bonzi in 2022. He urged the umpire to remind spectators not to smoke, complaining the odor was particularly harsh on his breathing as an asthmatic. \u201cIt was fucking marijuana. Obviously, I\u2019m not going to complain about food smells,\u201d he\u2019d later say. \u201cBut probably not something I want to be breathing in between points.\u201d Afterward he admitted the distractions of New York \u2013 heckling fans, roaring trains, and now marijuana smoke \u2013 made it harder to stay locked in point to point.<\/p>\n Marijuana is now a common smell on the streets of New York City. Photograph: Carlo Allegri\/Reuters<\/p>\n Zverev was blunter. After a match on Court 17 two years ago, the German likened the atmosphere to \u201cSnoop Dogg\u2019s living room\u201d. The intimate, 2,800-seat stadium with no reserved seating, which has become a fan favorite since the demise of the old Grandstand, has also earned a reputation as the epicenter of the smell. Zverev\u2019s assessment has since taken on a life of its own. A story this week previewing Thursday\u2019s court assignments quipped that Holger Rune had been sent to <\/a>hash-banen<\/a> for his second-round match, creating an aura that has proven stickier than your highest-grade kine bud.<\/p>\n Tournament officials have resisted the suggestion that Flushing Meadows has become a stoner\u2019s playground.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we can\u2019t control what takes place off the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, we continue to be vigilant as we maintain this facility as a smoke free environment,\u201d a USTA spokesperson told the Guardian this week. \u201cThis includes enforcement by our security and guest services teams when they are made aware of any individual that may be smoking, making them aware that although it may be legal in [New York], that smoking is not permitted on parks property including the tennis center. We constantly work with the NYPD and Parks Department, and we believe this has helped to decrease any smoking near our fenceline.\u201d<\/p>\n After Sakkari\u2019s comments in 2023 made headlines, the USTA reviewed video footage and interviewed staff. \u201cNo evidence\u201d was found of fans lighting up inside Court 17, a tournament spokesperson said. Instead, officials suggested, the smoke likely drifted from Corona Park. Players themselves have acknowledged as much. Marketa Vondrousova, the 2023 Wimbledon champion, said after her match that same year: \u201cI smelled it actually today also. You smell it a lot. I think it\u2019s just Court 17. That court is so far away, it\u2019s almost in the park. I think it\u2019s coming from the park.\u201d<\/p>\n From the organizers\u2019 perspective, nothing has changed. It\u2019s not like the posters of past tournaments which line the bowels of Arthur Ashe Stadium have been swapped out for Bob Marley photomosaics<\/a> and the Pink Floyd Back Catalogue<\/a>. The USTA still sells itself as the buzziest of the four slams, but emphatically not that kind of buzz. But it\u2019s not only spectators who are leaning in to the relaxed attitudes toward cannabis. One camera operator, who requested anonymity to protect his job, said he now relies on edibles to get through marathon shifts that sometimes stretch past 16 hours.<\/p>\n Security staffers stationed by the outer courts have noted the same. \u201cWe can\u2019t police what happens outside in the park,\u201d one said. \u201cYou catch a whiff on every corner. Around here, it\u2019s just normal.\u201d For all the gripes, the rules are clear: within the gates, smoking of any kind, including weed pens, is banned. Beyond them, the USTA has no jurisdiction.<\/p>\n Fans, too, seem largely unfazed. Steven Lewis, waiting in line for a Court 17 match on Monday afternoon, waved off the complaints. \u201cYou can smell it walking down the street in Midtown, sometimes at eight in the morning on a weekday, and it was the same even before it was legalized,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a part of New York. I don\u2019t see why the Open would be any different.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, part of the intrigue here is cultural. The Open has always leaned into its identity as tennis\u2019s loudest, least buttoned-up major. For players more accustomed to the hushed lawns of Wimbledon or at Roland Garros \u2013 where there is a total ban on alcohol in the stands to ensure a respectful atmosphere during play \u2013 it can feel like sensory overload. For locals, it\u2019s just the city in microcosm.<\/p>\n Legal marijuana is now embedded in New York life. That reality sits uneasily against the prim image tennis still projects, but the contradictions are unavoidable at a tournament staged in the heart of Queens. As Ruud lamented, even before Wednesday\u2019s second-round loss on the hash court, there may be little recourse beyond plugging one\u2019s nose and focusing on the next point. Some players thrive in it and others recoil. Either way, the Open keeps rolling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The US Open has always been the unruliest of tennis\u2019s four grand slam tournaments, a place where the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-101890","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}