US Open stars complain weed is making courts ‘smell like Snoop Dogg’s living room’
US Open stars usually have to deal with rowdy fans at Flushing Meadows - but now they are having to put with the smell of marijuana.
In what is becoming the unofficial scent of New York, players cannot escape the odour of weed wafting through the courts.
The drug may now be legal in the Big Apple, but smoking cannabis inside the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is prohibited.
Still, the distinctive odour has made its way to the US Open, with players complaining about the stench.
Speaking after his first round victory over Aleksandar Vukic, Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Alexander Zverev said: "Court 17 definitely smells like Snoop Dogg's living room.
"Oh my God, it´s everywhere. The whole court smells like weed."
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Meanwhile, world No.8 Maria Sakkari was so bothered by the smell during the first set of her defeat to Rebeka Masarova that she spoke to the chair umpire.
The 28-year-old stated: "The smell, oh my gosh. It was weed."
She added after the match: "Sometimes you smell food, sometimes you smell cigarettes, sometimes you smell weed.
"I mean, it’s something we cannot control, because we’re in an open space. There’s a park behind. People can do whatever they want.”
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Even Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, who beat Han Na-lae on Court 17, was impacted by the strong scent.
She remarked on Tuesday: "I smelled it actually today also. You smell it a lot. I think it's just Court 17.
"That court is so far away, it's almost in the park. I think it's coming from the park."
And tennis' bad boy Nick Kyrgios complained a fan was smoking weed in the stands during one of his matches last year at the US Open.