British Players Face Distractions at US Open
The lawns of Wimbledon feel a long way from New York, but for Britain’s US Open contingent there is still a distinct smell of “grass” in the air – and they are not amused.
At Flushing Meadows, where the city’s noise presses in from every side, a different kind of distraction has drifted into the build‑up. Marijuana is legal for adults in New York, and while smoking is banned inside the grounds, the sweet, heavy scent from nearby Corona Park regularly rolls across the outside courts.
For some of the British players, it has become impossible to ignore.
British players bristle at Flushing Meadows haze
Katie Boulter, the British No 1, has already had to deal with it in both practice and competition.
“You go down to the practice courts and down in the park courts, you do smell it a lot,” she said. “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.”
The issue is most noticeable on the outer courts that back directly on to the park, where the atmosphere can feel more street‑side than Grand Slam. Players trying to lock into tight early‑round matches instead find themselves catching wafts of weed between points.
Fran Jones, Britain’s No 3, met it with gallows humour last year.
“Last year I made a joke about that, in my first round, and I said to the guy: ‘Is this normal?’” she recalled. “Because I was on 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!’”
Harriet Dart, who, like Jones, battled through qualifying to reach the main draw, sounded more resigned than outraged.
“I mean it’s New York. It’s New York,” she said. “I feel like everywhere you walk around, it’s everywhere, no? It is what it is. Same for everyone.”
The USTA, caught between city law and tournament standards, stressed the limits of its power in a brief statement.
“While we 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,” it said, underlining that smoking remains prohibited on site.
The debate will not vanish quickly. For some players it is a minor irritation, part of the New York chaos. For others, like Boulter, it cuts directly across their ability to concentrate on the sport’s most unforgiving stage.
Fery handed first ATP final after Duckworth injury
Away from the haze of Flushing Meadows, another British story unfolded more cleanly in North Carolina.
Arthur Fery, one of the rising names in British tennis, moved into his first ATP Tour final at the Winston-Salem Open after James Duckworth retired hurt from their semi-final. Fery led 6-4, 1-2 when the Australian stopped with what appeared to be a right leg injury.
The match had been tight. Fery prised out the key break at 4-4 in the opening set, then held his nerve to close it out. The second set stayed on serve until Duckworth, clearly hampered, called it a day.
It leaves Fery on the brink of a breakthrough title, but his final test will be severe. He faces Ignacio Buse, the Peruvian who ground past France’s Benjamin Bonzi 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to book his place in Saturday’s decider.
Buse sits one spot above Fery in the rankings at No 36 and carries the status of 32nd seed into the upcoming French Open. Fery will not care about the numbers. One match now stands between him and a first ATP trophy – and a very different kind of statement from a British player this week.
