Tennis fans have blasted ‘disrespectful’ British star Harriet Dart for saying that her French rival smelt ‘really bad’ during a match on Tuesday.
Dart asked the umpire to tell her opponent to ‘put on deodorant’ during a 6-0 6-3 first-round defeat to Lois Boisson at the Rouen Open in France.
The incident occurred in the second set during a changeover, with the British No.4 later posting a statement to apologise for her behaviour.
‘Can you ask her (Boisson) to put on deodorant?’ Dart asked the umpire during the match. ‘She smells really bad.’
How did French rival Lois Boisson react?
Boisson, 21, appeared to be out of earshot when Dart, 28, made the comment but made light of her remark on social media after the match.
The Frenchwoman, ranked world No.303, posted an edited image of herself holding some deodorant on her Instagram story and told Dove – a toiletries company – that they ‘apparently need a collab’.
British tennis star Harriet Dart issues apology
Dart, meanwhile, ranked world No.110, said: ‘I want to apologise for what I said on court. It was a heat-of-the-moment comment that I truly regret.
‘That’s not how I want to carry myself, and I take full responsibility. I have a lot of respect for Lois and how she competed today.
‘I’ll learn from this and move forward.’
‘Players should be getting banned for stuff like this!’
Despite her apology, Dart has faced widespread criticism from tennis fans across social media.
‘Players should be getting banned for stuff like this,’ one tennis fan, @eustace_on7, posted on X. ‘Being nice to your opponent is part of professionalism.’
Tim Henman says Czech tennis players are smelly
Back in 2008, Tim Henman made headlines for suggesting that Czech tennis players smelt badly.
Asked if he had any gossip from the changing rooms in the week before Wimbledon, he said: ‘Well, the Czechs are a bit niffy.’
Jan Winkler, who was the Czech ambassador in London at the time, was not impressed with the former British No.1’s remark.
‘What a surprise Tim Henman has had the time to do so much research into the smell of the male body,’ Winkler said.
‘Nasty, nasty, nasty attitude,’ a second tennis fan, @UTDgeezer, added. ‘Apologies not accepted.’
‘Heat of the moment?’ @Chrisknickss asked. ‘So she was losing badly and wanted to insult her opponent, [is] that what she means?’
‘Sorry, apology not accepted,’ @JensonHarris121 said. ‘Harriet Dart is a c*** and her attitude is appalling, hope she’s booed wherever she goes.’
‘That is completely unacceptable from Dart,’ @LuiSousaSinger posted. ‘So disrespectful.’