[The 2026 US Open is dealing with a growing credibility problem in the middle of the tournament, and world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka has become the latest leading player to raise her voice on an issue that appears difficult to fix.

During her third-round match against Kamila Rakhimova, Sabalenka paused play in Louis Armstrong Stadium to complain to the umpire about the smell of weed. Her decision to stop the match underscored a concern that British No 1 Katie Boulter had already mentioned earlier in the event.

“Someone is smoking weed,” Sabalenka told the umpire. “Would you mind to (tell them to deal with it) because it’s so strong?”

She returned to the subject after the match and made her position clear in the press conference.

“Guys, you can relax any way you want and you can smoke anything you want, but please don’t do it around the tennis court.

“It’s a bit tricky to handle that smell while you are trying to perform at your best. There is nothing else to say about weed. I’m just asking people not to smoke it around the tennis court.”

The issue has now been acknowledged by several players, leaving USTA officials with a problem that is proving awkward to solve. Yet another storyline, of their own making, has also begun to dominate the conversation.

Tournament organisers have brought in influencers to help promote the event, and their presence has quickly become one of the biggest talking points. Matches have been interrupted while social media creators film videos and promote products during points, with Naomi Osaka left unimpressed.

Coco Gauff took a more measured view, but she was still firm that tennis etiquette must be respected.

“I think it’s great to have a different demographic to the sport, and I think I have no problem with influencers,” said Gauff.

“I have met some of them and follow some of them online. Luckily, the ones I do follow online do follow the etiquette and know tennis pretty well.

“I think it’s like any venue you come to, you have to follow the etiquette towards it. I think it may be on some of the brands, too, maybe to have, like, a sign plastered or something in the suites so that they know. Because, you know, sometimes it’s their first tennis match. They don’t know. They have probably been to basketball games before.

“But I definitely think no flash photography, because that does bother [us], and I am one of the more lenient players. There is very few times you hear me complain about noise. The flash (light)… definitely no flash in the points and try not to talk too loud.

“But like with anything, any venue you go to, like if you’re being invited to a red carpet, you wouldn’t show up in jeans. I think it’s just, follow the etiquette of the sport. That’s all.”

Unless the USTA changes course and stops giving these guests tickets in seats that are worth thousands of dollars, the debate is unlikely to fade. With Instagram and TikTok overflowing with images of influencers promoting themselves and their brands, the question remains whether tennis is actually gaining new fans. For now, the tournament’s news cycle is being shaped by problems that are damaging its image.

Martina Navratilova has weighed in on Carlos Alcaraz’s frustration with the modern schedule, saying one part of the calendar is especially difficult on the leading players. Her comments came after Alcaraz, back in action at the 2026 US Open following more than four months away with a wrist injury, said the demands of the tour may force him to step away for longer periods in the future.

After his second-round victory in New York, the seven-time Grand Slam champion was blunt about the challenge of playing through the full season. “Returning took me more time than I wanted, to be honest,” he said.

He added: “Obviously I didn’t want to have this break because of an injury, but in the future, I’m going to take some breaks, some long breaks.

“Maybe not four months, but one month, two months, missing some tournaments, because it’s impossible to play them all.

“I think they are adding more important tournaments. In a way, they are forcing us to choose. You can skip one or two, you can decide your calendar, but there are some Masters 1000s, Grand Slams [that you can’t skip], and we are going to play for 40 weeks if we are going to play every mandatory tournament that the ATP requires us to play.

“It’s impossible, and we are seeing a lot of players getting injured, a lot of players are getting tired, and if they don’t do anything about it, we are going to see it even more [injuries] in the future.”

Navratilova answered on X/Twitter by focusing on the 12-day Masters 1000 format. “These 12-day events are great for the tournament, for making $ and great for the fans, [but] they are horrible for the top players,” the 18-time major singles champion wrote.

The ATP Tour expanded Masters 1000 events in Madrid, Rome and Shanghai to 12 days in 2023, with singles draws increased to 96 players. The same format later arrived in Indian Wells, Miami and Shanghai in 2024, and in Canada and Cincinnati beginning with the 2025 editions.

Before those changes, seven of the nine Masters events were contested over one week with 56-player singles draws, while Indian Wells and Miami were 10-day tournaments.

Iva Jovic has moved into a third-round meeting with Alex Eala at the 2026 US Open, and she made no effort to hide her enthusiasm after finishing her own latest win.

The No 14 seed and No 17 seed were among the names many expected to cross paths when the draw was announced last week, and both have now done enough to make that matchup a reality.

Jovic advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 second-round victory over world No 104 Francesca Jones on Thursday. Her route into the match has not been straightforward, either. In the first round, the 18-year-old American beat Magdalena Frech 7-5, 6-3 in a contest that stretched across two days because of rain delays in New York.

Eala has also been efficient in reaching the same stage. She opened with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Mary Stoiana before backing it up with a 6-1, 6-4 defeat of Oleksandra Oliynykova in the second round.

After beating Jones, Jovic was asked in her on-court interview about the meeting ahead, and her response was immediate. “I’m super excited,” said Jovic.

“The atmosphere is gonna be amazing, and she’s been playing some great tennis.

“It’s nice to be playing each other third round, deeper into the Slam, so hopefully we can all keep going on runs like this.”

Jovic also acknowledged the physical strain of playing three days in a row because of the weather interruptions. “Yeah, it’s been a bit of a grind the past couple of days, but happy to catch up to speed, and no rain today, hallelujah, so good to be out here on dry courts.”

Eala, speaking after her second-round win, returned the compliment and offered a respectful assessment of Jovic. “She’s an amazing player,” said the 21-year-old Filipina

“Young, very talented, and very intelligent, of course. She’s a high-ranked player and and very, very accomplished, and I’ve encountered my fair share of challenges against her this year.

“But yeah, I mean it’s not under my control who I play. All I can do is, you know, give my best and try to do everything that I can to win.”