No. 8 seed Maria Sakkari fell 6–4, 6–4 to unseeded Rebeka Masarova in the first round of the U.S. Open on Monday, but spent much of the time after the match discussing something other than her play.
Marijuana.
“The smell, oh my gosh,” Sakkari told the umpire during the first set. “I think it’s from the park.”
In media availability following her surprising elimination, Sakkari didn’t go so far as to blame the smell for her performance, but she did say it was evident throughout the match.
“You don’t really think about it because all you care is just to win the match,” she said. “I smelled it, but that was it. Like it wasn’t something I paid attention to. Sometimes you smell food. Sometimes you smell cigarettes. Sometimes you smell weed. I mean, it’s something we cannot control because we are in an open space. There’s a park behind. People can do whatever they want.”
This isn’t the first time there have been complaints from players about the smell of marijuana. On the men’s side in the 2022 competition, Nick Kyrgios complained about the odor and said the smell probably wasn’t good for him as an asthmatic.
Thanks to a 2021 law that was passed in New York, individuals are allowed to possess recreational marijuana. Like any stadium, there are designated smoking areas at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, but that doesn’t mean fans in attendance won’t push the limits in order to take in as much of the action as they can.
It sounds like that may have been the case on Monday during Sakkari’s first round defeat at the hands of Masarova.
