Cannabis Aroma At U.S. Open Reaches The Court: Super Olfactory Powers Or Just Another Day In New York?

New York’s Flushing Meadows was apparently flush with weed smells according to Greece’s Maria Sakkari during her 6-4, 6-4 first-round upset loss to the Swiss-born Spaniard Rebeka Masarova on Monday.

Sakkari, the first Greek woman to reach the Top 10 in WTA rankings history, seemed in control of the match though she mentioned the smell of weed to an umpire during a changeover.

“The smell, oh my gosh,” Sakkari said. “I think it’s from the park.”

Sakkari was leading 4-1 in the first set on Court 17 at that point.

A semifinalist at the U.S. Open two years ago, she said the smell of weed didn’t affect her while playing. She had practiced on the same court Sunday and had already noticed it then.

“You don’t really think about it, because all you care about is just to win the match,” Sakkari said. “I smelled it, but that was it. Like, it wasn’t something that I paid attention to.”

She added that it didn’t cause any problems while competing in what became her third straight first-round exit in a Grand Slam tournament, reported AP.

“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.”

Last year in Flushing Meadows, the Corona Park section of Queens, which is hosting the 143rd edition of the US Open, Australian Nick Kyrgios also complained of the smell of weed.

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Photo: Maria Sakkari Twitter