Katie Boulter on Cannabis Smell Disrupting US Open Focus

Katie Boulter has grown used to the noise, the bustle and the chaos of New York. The smell is another matter.

As the British number one fine‑tunes her game for the US Open at Flushing Meadows, she says the persistent waft of cannabis drifting across from neighbouring Corona Park is cutting into her concentration.

“You can smell it a lot on the practice courts,” said Boulter, the world number 60, as she prepared for her opening match against American wildcard Carol Young Suh Lee. “I'm not a huge fan of it. I know a lot of players have complained on some of the specific courts. I've played on one before and I did smell it during my match.

“It's something that I wouldn't like to smell in the middle of my match. I'm trying to focus and then obviously, it takes you out of the moment and you really don't want to. You don't need distractions. So yeah, I wasn't a huge fan of it.”

In New York, cannabis is legal for adults over 21, but smoking is not allowed on site at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. That hasn’t stopped the scent seeping into the grounds year after year, riding the late-summer air from the park and wrapping itself around the outer courts.

Players have been talking about it for some time. Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev have both mentioned it in previous editions of the tournament. In 2022, Nick Kyrgios complained that a fan smoking courtside was aggravating his asthma, forcing the umpire to appeal to spectators to stop. Last year, Maria Sakkari drew the umpire’s attention to the smell mid‑set, later stressing she was not using it as an excuse for defeat.

The United States Tennis Association insists it is trying to contain the problem, working with local police and the parks department to clamp down on smoking around the perimeter.

“While we can't control what takes place off the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, we continue to be vigilant as we maintain this,” the organisation said.

Still, the issue lingers, as noticeable as the New York humidity.

Britain’s qualifiers have picked up on it too. Fran Jones, who faces Poland’s Magda Linette in the first round on Monday, recalled how the smell became part of the backdrop to her debut.

“Last year I made a joke about that, in my first round, and I said to the guy, ‘is this normal?’” Jones said. “Because I was on the stadium, and it's next to the park. He's like, ‘yeah’. And I was like: ‘Well, no wonder I'm playing pretty well.

“This year I'll be like ‘no, lock in, lock in!’”

Harriet Dart, who beat fellow Briton Heather Watson in qualifying to earn a main-draw meeting with American Peyton Stearns, sounded more resigned than irritated.

“I mean it's New York. It's New York,” she said. “I feel like everywhere you walk around, it's everywhere, no? It is what it is. Same for everyone.”

For some, it’s a quirky footnote to the final major of the season. For others, like Boulter, it cuts a little closer to performance. In a sport where focus is everything and margins are thin, even the air in New York is becoming part of the battle.