It gets sweaty on the court, moving and hitting the ball back and forth, but if a player has a hygiene issue, it’s best to respectfully tell them and not shout it out in the middle of the match.
British number four Harriet Dart embarrassed herself during the second set changeover when she told the umpire to tell her opponent, Lois Boission to put on a deodorant.
“Can you tell her to wear deodorant? She’s smelling really bad,” Dart remarked.
Boisson was too far away to hear her comment. After her changeover break, the 21-year-old returned to defeat Harriet Dart by 6-0, 6-3 in the first round of the Rouen Open.
28-year-old Dart has since issued an apology on her social media platforms.
“Hey everyone, I want to apologise for what I said on court today, 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.”
Boisson also took to social media, where she shared a post about the incident on her Instagram story, asking for a collab with Dove and for them to sponsor her with deodorants.
The WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) has not addressed the issue as they do have rules in place to address insulting language directed at players, including those related to hygiene, under it’s code of conduct and code of ethics.
With video evidence, Dart might receive a warning, a penalty, a fine or even be suspended from all tournaments.
This is not the first time an incident of insulting a follow player has taken place in the court of play.
In February the WTA released a verdict banning Stefano Vukov, Elena Rybakina’s former coach, from coaching and from obtaining credentials for professional tennis events.
After Vukov violated the tour’s code of conduct by calling Rybakina “stupid” and telling her that without him she would “still be in Russia picking potatoes”.
