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Professional tennis certainly holds no monopoly on bad sportsmanship, though some of its most heated and controversial exchanges between players and umpires have drawn headlines. Following a match Tuesday at the Rouen Open in France, an exchange between player and umpire attracted attention for its more passive-aggressive nature.
During Tuesday's first-round match, British player Harriet Dart was heard on the broadcast asking the umpire to tell her opponent, France's Lois Boisson, to wear deodorant shortly after Boisson walked by during a change of ends.
"Can you tell her to wear deodorant?" said Dart, who added that her opponent "smells really bad."
Dart, who is ranked No. 110, was defeated, 6-0, 6-3, by the 303rd-ranked Boisson. The 28-year-old apologized on Instagram after her comments spread on social media and drew criticism.
"I want to apologise for what I said on court today, it was a heat-of-the-moment comment that I truly regret," Dart said. "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's upset of Dart at the WTA 250 event comes during her first WTA Tour appearance of the season. The 21-year-old was ranked as high as No. 152 last spring but tore her ACL during a match just ahead of the French Open. The Rouen Open, which Boisson entered as a wild card, is her first tournament since rehabbing the knee injury.
Boisson didn't appear to hear Dart's comment during the match. Ahead of Dart's apology, Boisson seemed to take her opponent's criticism in stride.
She posted a photo of herself on Instagram with a stick of Dove deodorant edited overtop tennis balls in her left hand. A caption read, "@dove apparently need a collab," followed by two laughing emojis.