High drama at 'hash court' Smell of weed becomes latest distraction at the US Open

The US Open has always been the unruliest of tennis's four grand slam tournaments, a place where the soundtrack is as much screeching trains, the roar of air traffic and well-lubricated crowds as it is the thwack of racket on ball.

- Bryan Armen Graham

The US player Frances Tiafoe likes to call it "organised chaos", the sort of life-affirming atmosphere that he says teases out his best performances.

In recent years, though, one distraction has cut through the bedlam that gives the tournament its character. Alongside the cocktails and Heineken, is the sign of a fresh vice: the unmistakable aroma of marijuana. It drifts across the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center so often that players have begun treating it as not a bug but a feature of the event.

Casper Ruud, the 2022 US Open runner-up from Norway, was the latest to complain during last week's mixed doubles tournament while paired with Iga Swiatek.

"For me, this is the worst thing about New York," he said. "The smell of cannabis. It's everywhere, even here where the tournament is being played. But we have to accept it. I think it's annoying to be on the court while someone smokes a joint. It's no fun for us players to be tired and have to inhale the smell of hashish at the same time.

"We can't do anything about it unless the law changes, but I doubt that will happen."