Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Tennis player Casper Ruud won his first match at the U.S. Open on Monday, but he still has a complaint about the tournament: the smell of weed that he says is “everywhere” in New York. “I come from a place that is very, very different than New York I’m not a big fan of the smell of weed,” ” he said.
“I’m not even joking. It’s every corner of every street, you smell it. Almost anywhere you go. … For me, this is the worst thing about New York,” the 26-year-old Norwegian said. “The smell is everywhere, even here on the courts. We have to accept it, but it’s not my favorite smell. It’s quite annoying to be playing, tired, and just meters away, someone is smoking marijuana. We can’t do anything about it unless the law is reversed, but I have strong doubts that will happen.”
Ruud, who is currently ranked 12th in the world, also complained to the Norwegian media. “It’s complicated to be on the court with people smoking joints,” he said. “Having to inhale that smell of marijuana when we’re tired is not fun at all. The intensity of the odor is very strong at times.”
Casper Ruud made his comments after competing in mixed doubles with Poland’s Iga Swiatek on Sunday, losing in the final to Italy’s Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori.
‘It was skunky’
The State of New York has allowed the use of cannabis for recreational use in 2021. However, the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows is a smoke-free facility. That hasn’t stopped some people from smoking weed though, according to some workers at the U.S. Open, according to the New York Post.
“I saw a vaper. There are vapers. They are the ones who do this,” a worker said. “They’re here. What do I do? I was not given direction.”
One fan agreed with Ruud, telling the Post, “It was skunky. I definitely smelled it on the grounds here. It’s all over New York, though. I was in Cold Springs Harbor at a very upscale restaurant, and there was someone crouched in the doorway smoking weed.
Casper Ruud also isn’t the first tennis player to complain about the smell of weed at the U.S. Open. In 2022, Australia’s Nick Kyrgios asked the chair umpire to warn the crowd inside Louis Armstrong Stadium about smoking marijuana. And in 2021, Greece’s Maria Sakkari complained that the smell of weed was affecting her concentration during her match against Rebeka Masarova.