From the smell of weed to a wardrobe fix: Aryna Sabalenka, Carlos Alcaraz brighten up an unusual day at the US Open

Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz NEW YORK CITY: Aryna Sabalenkova was distracted by the smell of cannabis wafting through Louis Armstrong Stadium midway through the opening set of her US Open third-round match against Kamille Rakhimova. The world number one turned to referee chairperson Eva Asderaki-Moore to raise the issue.“Someone’s smoking weed,” she said, glancing briefly at her box before approaching the referee. “You don’t mind? Because it’s so strong there.”Asderaki-Moore spoke to the official on her radio and made a smoking gesture before continuing the game.Sabalenka served 10 aces in a 6-3, 6-4 win over the Uzbek.“You can do anything, smoke anything, but please don’t do it on the tennis courts,” pleaded the 28-year-old Belarusian. “It’s a bit of a tricky smell when you’re trying to compete as well as you can.Sabalenka is not the first player to complain about the smell of marijuana around Flushing Meadows, a sprawling tennis complex surrounded by greens, but this is the first time she has mentioned it in a match.The Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is a smoke-free facility that prohibits smoking, vaping and the use of electronic cigarettes on the tournament grounds.“It was a bit windy today. I don’t know if it was coming from the crowd or if it was outside and the wind was blowing it into the stadium,” she said.Last year, Casper Ruud, the US Open 2022 finalist, talked about it with the Norwegian media.“To me, that’s the worst thing about New York,” he said. “The smell is everywhere, even here on the courts. We have to accept it, but it’s not my favorite smell.”In Sunday’s fourth round, Sabalenka will face home hope Taylor Townsend, who knocked out 15th-seeded Diana Shnaider 6:2, 6:7 (3), 6:3.The Williams sisters, Venus, 46, and Serena, 44, playing their first US Open match since 2022 at the two-time Grand Slam event, lit up Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday night as they rallied from a set down against Hao-Ching Chan and Maya Joint in the first round of the women’s doubles.But just when it appeared they had taken control and shifted gears from 1-4 in the decider, Williams let it slip. They blew a 5-0 lead in the tiebreak of the match, won just two of the last 12 points, and fell 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (10-7) after three hours of the first match of the night in the shadows.

Alcaraz changes gears

Just as defending champion Carlos Alcaraz’s game has been dissected since his return from a four-month injury-enforced layoff, so has his playing equipment. The Spaniard, who, like his famous compatriot Rafael Nadal, has made the cut-out tank top something of a signature style, this time caused sartorial controversy with his generous armhole, which caused a stir on the internet.Decked out in an ombre tank and fading from chocolate to white for his first two rounds, Alcaraz could do little as the fabric caught the wind as he moved around the box. He addressed the situation in his third-round match against China’s Yibing Wu, wearing a fitted white vest underneath his jersey.The Spaniard won 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 and set up a fourth round meeting with the American Tommy Paul.“I think I’ve seen my nipple a little too much lately. I felt like I could hide it for at least one game,” Alcaraz said in his postgame interaction, adding, “I’m really comfortable with another shirt (underneath). So I think I’ll stay that way.”Alcaraz noted that the vest was his decision and not his sponsor, Nike’s.“I wouldn’t mind if I had to play like that again, but if we could do something about it, it was good. Maybe the second round bothered me a bit, but not that much,” he said.