Aryna Sabalenka halts US Open match to speak to umpire about someone smoking weed: 'It's so strong'

Aryna Sabalenka is moving on to the Round of 16 at the US Open — but not before experiencing an unexpected disruption. On Friday, Sabalenka had to pause the match to address what she believed was someone smoking marijuana in the stands.

Early in Sabalenka's third-round win over Kamilla Rakhimova, the World No. 1 appeared to look at her box and confirm that they also could smell the smoke. Sabalenka then walked over to the umpire's chair to ask if she could get them to stop.

"Someone is smoking weed," Sabalenka could be heard telling the umpire. "Do you mind? Because it's so strong."

The umpire appeared to signal to someone about the issue by miming the smoking with her fingers.

Sabalenka went on to win the match, 6-3, 6-4. Overall, Sabalenka dominated Rakhimova, trailing just twice in the match and winning the last three games of the second set to take the victory.

Postgame, Sabalenka was lighthearted about the stoppage. In response to a reporter's question about "how much of a high" she was on in this tournament, Sabalenka joked that she misinterpreted the question at first because she "can only hear weed stuff."

As for the smoking itself, Sabalenka said that it was windy enough that the smell may have traveled outside the stadium. Still, she requested that the culprit reconsider smoking near the action.

"I was like, guys you can do whatever. You can smoke, whatever. You can relax as much as you can. But please don't do it around the tennis courts," Sabalenka said. "It's a bit tricky to handle that smell while you're trying to compete at your best.

The interruption is just the latest in a tournament that has been seemingly overrun by influencers . Some have caused disruptions , including during Naomi Osaka's first-round match, leading Osaka to later encourage the newcomers to "read up" on tennis etiquette.

So far in these early rounds, Sabalenka is winning everything pretty handily, and has now won all three of her matches in straight sets. That's a good thing, since the stakes are higher for the Belarusian player: Though Sabalenka has held her current No. 1 ranking since October 2024, the 28-year-old is being heavily challenged for her title.

As things stand, No. 2-ranked player Elena Rybakina needs only to make the US Open semifinals in order to take the top overall ranking.