Aryna Sabalenka has dealt with pressure, injury dips and the weight of a No 1 ranking. On Saturday night in New York, she added a new opponent: the smell of weed drifting across her court.
It didn’t knock her off stride for long.
The two-time defending US Open champion moved into the fourth round without dropping a set, beating Kamilla Rakhimova 6-3, 6-4, and serving notice that her game – and her temper – are very much alive.
‘Someone is smoking weed’
Leading 3-0 in the opening set, Sabalenka suddenly walked toward chair umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore with a grin that didn’t quite hide her irritation.
“Someone is smoking weed, do you mind … because it’s so strong,” she said, pointing toward the stands.
Play continued, but the episode underlined a now-familiar subplot at Flushing Meadows. Cannabis is legal in New York, and the smell has become part of the background at the US Open, a recurring talking point for players in recent years.
Sabalenka later expanded on it, still amused but clearly unimpressed.
“I was, like, Guys, you can do whatever, you can smoke whatever, you can relax as much as you can, but please, do not do it around the tennis courts. It’s a bit tricky to handle that smell while you’re trying to compete at your best.”
She said she was unsure where it came from – a spectator nearby, or somewhere outside the stadium with the wind carrying it in – but insisted this was the strongest she had ever smelled it in New York.
“That strong, yeah. Also, because it was a bit windy. I don’t know if it was, like, coming from the crowd or was from the outside because the wind blows it into the stadium. I don’t know. I just hope they’re going to be a bit more aware of that stuff.”
The distraction stayed in the air. The match, however, stayed firmly in her hands.
Serve locked in, ranking on the line
Strip away the sideshow and the numbers tell a ruthless story. Sabalenka fired 10 aces, never faced a break point and controlled the scoreboard throughout. Rakhimova asked questions, but the Belarusian’s serve kept answering.
She came into New York in some of her most fragile form in years. Since her spectacular Indian Wells–Miami double in March, she hadn’t reached a final. For a player who has sat on top of the rankings for 97 weeks, that’s a long drought.
Now the stakes sharpen. Sabalenka will lose her No 1 ranking unless she wins a third straight US Open title and Elena Rybakina falls before the semi-finals. Every round carries a ranking subtext. Every service game feels like it belongs to a season-long defence.
For now, she has reached the last 16 without dropping a set and, at last, looks to be finding rhythm on the hard courts that have defined her career.
Bristling off the court
If her tennis has steadied, her patience with certain narratives has not.
After her dominant second-round win over Polina Iatcenko, Sabalenka clashed with a reporter in a spiky press conference. The journalist framed her week before the US Open as “parties and fun” – a description that landed badly.
“This was the second time” in the tournament that a reporter had referenced her pre-event obligations as if they were distractions rather than work. Sabalenka didn’t let it slide.
“You guys are, like, a joke,” she shot back. “‘Parties, fun …’ like, why would you even say that? Why would you even think about that? What kind of question is that? Just because I posted, like, some activities with brands, and you think that I’ve been partying, not training?”
The exchange dragged on, heated and uncomfortable, before she cut it off with a pointed instruction: “Think before you say stuff.”
On court, she is hunting timing and confidence. Off it, she is defending her professionalism and pushing back against the perception that commercial duties equal complacency. The pressure of a fading No 1, the expectation of a three-peat, the scrutiny of every social media post – it is all starting to show, just not in her ball-striking.
Townsend test next
The next step in Sabalenka’s title defence comes against a player who knows how to light up these courts in her own way. Taylor Townsend, the home favourite, is back in the fourth round after another bold run in New York.
Townsend, who reached this stage last year, beat 15th seed Diana Shnaider 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-3, again showcasing the all-court craft and fearless shotmaking that make her a threat, especially with a partisan crowd behind her. Sabalenka will walk into a louder, more emotional arena. She will also face a far more varied game than she has seen so far this fortnight.
If the cannabis haze was an oddity, the roar for an American underdog will be anything but.
Medvedev and Alcaraz move in step
On the men’s side, two former champions took another calm stride toward the second week.
Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 US Open winner, produced a clean, controlled performance to beat 29th seed Arthur Rinderknech 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. No drama, no fuss, just the kind of measured baseline dominance that has long made him one of the most awkward puzzles in men’s tennis.
Carlos Alcaraz, the defending champion, brought more fireworks.
Still working his way back from a four-and-a-half month layoff with a right wrist injury suffered in early April, the Spaniard eased past Wu Yibing 6-3, 6-4, 6-1. The scoreline looks straightforward; the match was not, at least at the start.
Alcaraz had to think his way through tight passages in the first two sets, digging in on key points and lifting his level when it mattered. Once he did, the contest flipped. Wu faded, and Alcaraz surged, reminding the field how quickly he can turn a match into a procession.
“To be honest, I’m better than I thought,” he admitted afterwards. “Physically, I thought I was going to be bad after the first match but I’m recovering really well, I’m doing great things off the court out be in a good shape and right now I think my level is good. I’ve got the rhythm of the competition. Every time I step on to the court, I give it my all.”
Next up for him is 20th seed Tommy Paul, who outlasted 15th seed Alexander Bublik 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-3. An American with a complete game and a taste for big stages, Paul will test both Alcaraz’s fitness and his patience.
Sabalenka, Medvedev, Alcaraz – three champions, three very different weeks, all converging on the same question that hangs over the New York night: whose game, whose nerve, and whose lungs will hold firm when the city’s chaos spills into the court and the second week bites back?
