TENNIS star Maria Sakkari has suffered a shocking first-round exit at the US Open, leaving her in tears during the post-match press conference.
The No. 8 seed lost to world’s No. 71 Rebeka Masarova in two sets – and after complaining about the smell of marijuana during the match.
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Sakkari brought the odor to the umpire’s attention as she led 4-1 in the first set.
“The smell, oh my gosh,” she said. “I think it’s from the park.”
The Greek star eventually fell 6-4, 6-4, crashing out in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament for the third time in a row.
But she didn’t want to use the foul smell as an excuse.
“It wasn’t the smell that affected the score in any way,” she said.
“It was just a comment because it was smelling quite a lot – but it has nothing to do with the match.
And she added: “Sometimes you smell food, sometimes you smell cigarettes, sometimes you smell weed.
“I mean, it’s something we cannot control because we’re in an open space. There’s a park behind. People can do whatever they want.”
Nick Kyrgios made a similar complaint during last year’s US Open.
Sakkari got emotional later in the press conference as the tennis star discussed what she…
