The world No. 1 briefly stopped play at Louis Armstrong Stadium after a strong smell of marijuana drifted across the court, adding another unusual chapter to a recurring complaint at Flushing Meadows.

Aryna Sabalenka has faced power hitters, hostile crowds, brutal heat and the psychological pressure that comes with being the world’s top-ranked player. At the US Open on Friday, however, she encountered a rather different opponent.

Cannabis smoke.

The world No. 1 briefly interrupted her third-round match against Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova after a strong smell of marijuana drifted onto the court at Louis Armstrong Stadium, prompting Sabalenka to alert chair umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore.

The Belarusian was already in control of the match when she stopped and pointed out the smell, telling the umpire that somebody appeared to be smoking nearby and that the odour was extremely strong. Tournament personnel subsequently attempted to identify where it was coming from.

The interruption proved little more than a temporary distraction.

Sabalenka quickly returned to business, defeating Rakhimova 6-3, 6-4 to reach the fourth round and extend her winning streak at Flushing Meadows to 16 matches. She is attempting to win a third consecutive US Open title, a feat that would place her alongside some of the most dominant champions in the tournament’s modern history.

Yet the episode attracted attention because it was hardly unprecedented.

Cannabis odour has become an unlikely recurring feature of the US Open in recent years, particularly on some of the outer courts and at Louis Armstrong Stadium. Players including Nick Kyrgios, Maria Sakkari and Alexander Zverev have previously complained about marijuana smells drifting across the grounds. Britain’s Katie Boulter has also described the odour as disruptive during matches.

Sabalenka’s complaint therefore highlighted an unusual problem confronting organisers of one of tennis’s four Grand Slam tournaments: how to maintain the controlled environment elite athletes expect when the venue sits inside one of the busiest and most socially diverse cities in the world.

The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is located in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens. Although smoking is prohibited within the tournament grounds, strong odours can potentially drift into open-air stadiums from surrounding areas, particularly when wind conditions carry them across the complex.

Sabalenka herself acknowledged after the match that she could not be certain whether the smell originated inside the stadium.

She said the wind may have carried it into the venue from elsewhere, adding that the principal concern was simply the difficulty of competing at maximum concentration while being confronted by such a powerful smell.

That distinction matters because the incident is less about cannabis itself than about concentration at the highest level of professional sport.

Elite tennis is unusually sensitive to environmental distractions.

Players operate without teammates, coaches on the court or regular breaks in which concentration can be completely reset. Matches can last several hours, and the margin between winning and losing individual points is often tiny.

A spectator shouting during a serve, a ringing telephone, an unexpected movement behind the baseline or an unusual smell can interrupt the rhythm players work meticulously to maintain.

For Sabalenka, whose game relies heavily on explosive serving and aggressive baseline hitting, maintaining that rhythm is particularly important.

She handled the disruption comfortably.

After taking the opening set 6-3, she encountered more resistance in the second. Rakhimova forced her into longer exchanges and made the defending champion work considerably harder than she had during her previous match. The second set lasted 54 minutes — one minute longer than Sabalenka’s entire preceding contest — before the top seed secured the decisive break and completed a 6-4 finish.

The result maintained Sabalenka’s impressive run in New York.

Having established herself as one of the defining hard-court players of her generation, she arrived at this year’s tournament attempting to capture another US Open crown and reinforce her position at the top of women’s tennis.

The cannabis incident did little to alter that trajectory.

If anything, Sabalenka’s ability to laugh about it afterwards illustrated the growing confidence of a player who has become increasingly adept at navigating both the competitive and theatrical elements of Grand Slam tennis.

The incident nevertheless renewed discussion about the atmosphere surrounding the tournament.

The US Open has always cultivated a different personality from Wimbledon, Roland Garros or the Australian Open.

New York crowds are louder. Night sessions routinely stretch deep into the evening. Music, food, alcohol and entertainment contribute to an environment closer to a major American sporting spectacle than the traditionally restrained atmosphere associated with tennis.

For many players, that energy is part of the tournament’s appeal.

But it also creates friction between spectacle and competition.

This year, players have already raised concerns about spectators and social-media creators disrupting matches. Naomi Osaka has called for visitors to respect tennis etiquette after repeated noise interruptions during one of her matches, while approximately 100 influencers and content creators have reportedly received accreditation as organisers attempt to expand the tournament’s reach online.

Cannabis smoke represents another version of the same challenge.

New York has legalised recreational marijuana for adults, making the smell increasingly familiar across parts of the city. But legality outside the tennis complex does not change the tournament’s own smoke-free rules or the expectations of athletes competing on court.

The location of the National Tennis Center makes enforcement especially difficult.

Unlike an enclosed indoor arena, Louis Armstrong Stadium is partially open to the surrounding environment. Wind, noise and smells do not necessarily respect the boundaries between tournament property and the park beyond it.

That leaves officials confronting a problem they may not be able to eliminate entirely.

Previous players have been considerably less amused by the issue.

Nick Kyrgios complained about marijuana odour during the 2022 tournament and expressed concern that smoke could aggravate his asthma. A year later, Maria Sakkari noticed a similarly powerful smell during one of her matches, while Alexander Zverev famously remarked on how pervasive it had become around the complex.

Those incidents have transformed what might otherwise seem like an isolated curiosity into something approaching an annual US Open tradition.

The difference this time is the profile of the player involved.

Sabalenka is not merely another competitor passing through the draw. She is the world No. 1 and the tournament’s two-time defending champion, making any disruption affecting her performance immediately more prominent.

Her victory also came during a busy day for the leading contenders.

Jessica Pegula overcame Leylah Fernandez in three sets, while several major names advanced in the men’s draw, including Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Frances Tiafoe.

For Sabalenka, however, attention quickly returned to tennis.

Her next challenge is Taylor Townsend, who advanced through her own third-round match and now stands between the defending champion and another appearance in the latter stages of the tournament.

The stakes will become progressively higher from here.

Sabalenka is attempting to achieve something increasingly rare in modern women’s tennis: sustained dominance at the same Grand Slam tournament.

Winning three consecutive US Open titles would place her in distinguished company. Serena Williams captured three straight championships between 2012 and 2014, while Chris Evert achieved an extraordinary sequence of four consecutive victories between 1975 and 1978.

That historical pursuit provides a considerably more important storyline than Friday’s interruption.

Still, Grand Slam tournaments are remembered as much for their peculiar moments as their statistics, and Sabalenka’s brief exchange with the umpire immediately became one of the more unusual images of this year’s competition.

There was something quintessentially New York about it.

One of the world’s finest athletes was competing for another major championship inside a packed stadium, only to discover that the atmosphere of the city outside had quite literally drifted onto the court.

For organisers, the episode is another reminder that preserving concentration in an open-air urban venue can be surprisingly difficult.

For Sabalenka, it was ultimately little more than an inconvenience.

She complained, waited, resumed play and won.

And as she continues her pursuit of a third consecutive US Open championship, the defending champion can at least say that one of the strangest obstacles of her tournament has already been overcome.