This tennis controversy stinks.
The Rouen Open in France reeks of a hygiene controversy after British tennis player Harriet Dart asked the chair umpire to tell her first-round opponent, France’s Lois Boisson, to wear deodorant Tuesday.
“Can you tell her to wear deodorant?” Dart asked the umpire after rising from a chair during the changeover in a hot-mic moment that has since gone viral.
“She’s smelling really bad.”
Boisson seemingly did not hear the comment, according to reports.
She ultimately defeated Dart, 6-0, 6-3, to advance to the second round.
The 21-year-old Boisson then had some fun with her opponent’s remarks.
“@dove apparently need a collab,” Boisson wrote Tuesday — alongside a praying hands and two laughing emojis — on her Instagram Story, which featured a photo of her holding a tennis ball and a photoshopped Dove deodorant stick above the ball.
Dart, a 28-year-old Brit ranked as the No. 110 player in the world, ultimately apologized for her actions.
“Hey everyone, I want to apologise (sic) for what I said on the court today, it was a heat-of-the-moment comment that I truly regret,” Dart wrote Tuesday on her Instagram Story. “That’s now 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.”
As Boisson awaits word from Dove on a possible collaboration, she’s also awaiting to see who her second-round opponent will be on Thursday.
The victor of Wednesday’s clash between Moyuka Uchijima and Nuria Brancaccio will advance to round two.
Boisson’s triumph over Dart marked her first action of 2025 due to injury.
She is the No. 303 player in the world.
The 2025 final will be held April 20 and is a clay court tuneup for the French Open, which begins next month.
American Sloane Stephens triumphed over Poland’s Magda Linette, 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 in last year’s championship.
