There are certain US Open traditions you can count on: matches ending sometime around breakfast, New York roaring in the background, somebody arguing with a chair umpire, plus the increasingly unmistakable smell of cannabis drifting toward the courts, like someone just cracked open Snoop Dogg’s laundry bag.
This year, apparently, the cloud is back in force.
British player Francesca “Fran” Jones described one recent day as “one of the worst” she had experienced when it came to cannabis smoke drifting onto the courts from Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, the sprawling public park surrounding the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Asked whether it affected her during a 6-4, 6-1 win over Laura Garland, Jones delivered exactly the kind of answer headline writers dream of: “Well, sometimes, you know … when I’m hallucinating! No, I had a wee giggle to myself, and then I was, like, ‘OK, back to the point.’”
To be clear, Jones was not claiming that secondhand weed smoke had actually made her hallucinate. She was joking. The smell, however, was apparently very real. And pretty damn noticeable.
‘It Takes You Out of the Moment’
Katie Boulter was considerably less amused.
“Down in the park courts, you do smell it [cannabis] a lot,” the British player said, adding that multiple players have complained about specific courts.
Boulter recalled playing on Court 17, one of the courts closest to the park and by now something of a recurring character in this story. “I’m trying to focus and then it takes you out of the moment when you really don’t need distractions,” she said. “So yeah, I wasn’t a huge fan of it.”
Jones, who grew up and developed as a tennis player in Barcelona, knows Court 17’s reputation well. She recalled asking the chair umpire about the smell during last year’s tournament.
“I said to the guy [in the umpire’s chair], ‘Is this normal?’ Because I was on Court 17, and it’s next to the park. He’s like, ‘Yeah’. I was like, ‘Well, no wonder I’m playing pretty well.’”
Maybe that has a little something to do with the fact that, on the streets of Barcelona, the smell of cannabis and the culture around the plant are hardly unusual.
This time, she was on Court 15 and still had a cheeky recommendation.
“Seventeen is the closest to the park. That’s the place to be, so get over there!”
Harriet Dart wasn’t particularly bothered either.
“[You smell it] more in the park area, when I was practising,” she said. “I mean, it’s New York. When you walk around, it’s everywhere, no? It is what it is. Same for everyone.”
Court 17 has a history
The whole weed-smell-around-the-US-Open thing is hardly news at this point.
In 2022, Nick Kyrgios stopped play during a US Open match to ask the chair umpire whether spectators could be reminded not to smoke. He later explained that the issue was more than an annoyance for him because he has severe asthma.
“When I’m running side to side and struggling to breathe already, it’s probably not something I want to be breathing in between points,” he said.
A year later, Maria Sakkari immediately recognized the smell during one of her matches.
“It was weed,” she said.
And then: “The smell, oh my gosh.”
Still, Sakkari made clear she did not consider it a major factor in her performance. To her, it was simply another part of playing a tournament in the middle of New York: food, cigarettes, cannabis. There’s always something in the air, right?
That same year produced what remains the gold standard of US Open weed-smell quotes.
Alexander Zverev said Court 17 “smells like Snoop Dogg’s living room.” Hard to top that. Honestly, fair enough.
Casper Ruud later joined the list of players less than thrilled by the ambient perfume, at one point calling it “the worst thing about New York” and saying it was “quite annoying” to be exhausted during a match while somebody was smoking marijuana just meters away.
Novak Djokovic complained about it last year too.
“You can really smell the smell, it’s not like you can miss it,” he said. “Some people are more disturbed than others. I’m not a fan of the smell either, it stinks.”
He also acknowledged the practical reality: “It’s allowed here and you have to accept it.”
Djokovic, in fact, has been dealing with this particular tennis problem for more than a decade.
Back in 2015, during a tournament in Montreal, he complained about smelling cannabis near the court.
“Someone is smoking marijuana, I can smell it, I’m getting dizzy,” he said.
Then came the punchline: “Yesterday in the doubles match, today again. Someone is really enjoying his life around the tennis court.”
Eleven years later, apparently somebody still is.
Can the US Open Actually Do Anything About It?
The United States Tennis Association says smoking is prohibited on tournament grounds and that it works with the NYPD and the Parks Department to reduce smoking near the perimeter.
The complication is geography.
The tennis center sits inside an enormous public park, and controlling whatever happens beyond the tournament’s fences is not exactly straightforward.
So the annual ritual continues: tennis happens inside, New York keeps happening outside, and every now and then the two meet somewhere around Court 17.
This year, according to Jones, there’s just a little more smoke than usual.
Cover photo created with AI.
