British No 1 Katie Boulter has become the latest player to complain about the smell of cannabis at the US Open after plenty of complaints last year.

12 months ago, Novak Djokovic was among those who criticised the smell of the legal recreational drug and it is not a problem that has gone away in the time between.

The tournament is hosted right next to Corona Park and Court 17, the closest to the park, has been highlighted as one in which the smell is particularly potent.

Boulter said it is a “distraction” she could do without, admitting she had smelt it during a match before.

“I have experienced it,” she said. “You go down to the practice courts and down in the park courts, you do smell it a lot.

“But yeah, 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.”

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The USTA said it “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” but Boulter is not the only player to smell it.

Fellow Briton Fran Jones revealed she had to ask one of the staff if the smell was “normal.”

“Last year I made a joke about that, in my first round, and I said to the guy: ‘Is this normal?’.

“Because I was at the stadium, and it’s next to the park.

“He’s like: ‘Yeah” and I was: ‘Well, no wonder I’m playing pretty well’.

“This year I’ll be like: ‘No, lock in, lock in!”

In 2023, Alexander Zverev described court 17 as “like Snoop Dogg’s living room” while Nick Kyrgios said it was affecting his asthma.

“People don’t know [it but] I’m a heavy asthmatic,” Kyrgios said. “When I’m running side to side, I’m struggling to breathe, [so the smell of weed is] probably not something I want to be breathing in between points.”

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