World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka broke off from her third-round match at the US Open to ask the chair umpire to deal with a fan smoking cannabis in the stands of Louis Armstrong Stadium.

After banging down an ace in the third game, Sabalenka turned to Eva Asderaki-Moore, the umpire, and said: “Someone is smoking weed. Would you mind to [tell them to deal with it] because it’s so strong.”

Asderaki-Moore then turned her head and made a signal, holding up two fingers in a manner to suggest smoking, before speaking into her radio.

She did not, however, get on her microphone to say “Ladies and gentlemen, would you mind putting your joints away”, or some version of the same.

In the interview room after the match, Sabalenka explained: “I was, like, ‘Guys, you can do whatever, you can smoke whatever, you can relax as much as you can, but please, to not do it around the tennis courts.’ It’s a bit tricky to handle that smell while you’re trying to compete at your best.”

While the regular stench of cannabis is a feature of the US Open, it is more common on the outside courts towards the south-east of the site – which are closer to the open spaces of Corona Park – and even more so on the practice courts in the park itself.

“Down in the park courts, you do smell it [cannabis] a lot,” said British No 1 Katie Boulter before the start of the tournament. “A lot of players have complained on some of the specific courts. I’ve played on the sunken court [No 17] before and I did smell it during my match. I’m trying to focus and then it takes you out of the moment when you really don’t need distractions.”

The issue has been a common theme since the state of New York decriminalised cannabis in 2021. Alexander Zverev came up with the best line when he said that Court 17 smelt “like Snoop Dogg’s living room”.

However, the United States Tennis Association insists that it tries to “maintain this facility as a smoke-free environment,” as a spokesman said last week. “This includes enforcement by our security and guest services teams when they are made aware of any individual that may be smoking, making them aware that although it may be legal in New York, that smoking is not permitted on parks property, including the tennis centre.”

Sabalenka has been in an edgy frame of mind at this event. After her second-round win against Polina Iatcenko, she bit back at a journalist who had begun a question by suggesting that the week before a grand slam tournament was about “parties and fun and stuff like that”.

Sabalenka did not even wait for the question to finish before butting in and saying: “You guys are, like, a joke. Parties, fun… like, why would you even say that? Why would you even think about that? What kind of question is that? Just because I posted, like, some activities with brands, and you think that I’ve been partying, not training?”

Playing Kamilla Rakhimova in Friday’s third-round match, Sabalenka often cut a frustrated figure even though her game looked in decent order as she closed out a 6-3, 6-4 win in one hour and 28 minutes.