Harriet Dart's bizarre deodorant request at Rouen leaves fans in disbelief

British tennis player Harriet Dart made a strange request to the umpire during her Round of 32 match against her French opponent Lois Boisson at the Open de Rouen on April 15. She asked if her opponent could apply deodorant mid-match, which the tennis fans labelled as a disrespectful and degrading behavior by the English player towards Boisson.

Irrespective of the bizarre incident, Boisson, who entered the tournament as a wildcard, kept her calm and went on to triumph over the Brit in 6-0, 6-3, with sheer dominance. However, the tennis fans didn't let the matter slide and heavily critiqued Dart on her unsportsmanlike behavior.

After the news of this incident broke, a clip of this surfaced on X (formerly Twitter), where Dart was seen asking the umpire if Boisson could apply some deodorant as she passed by her.

One user heavily criticised Harriet Dart on X and replied to media outlet Olly Tennis' post on this incident, replying,

"I'm British, but I've never been a big fan of how Dart comes across. Always on about something..."

Another user also highlighted how this kind of behavior has often been displayed by the Brit, commenting,

"Dart is such a baby. Always has to start confrontations for no reason at all whatsoever. I mean, she could even start an argument in an empty room."

"Like Harriet could've waited to say that when camera's aren't shoved in their faces knowing that it's rolling. Like what on earth? This is next level. Please like be a girl's girl for at least a day or something," wrote another user.

Some more fan reactions:

"Disgusting of Harriet. I really thought she was better than that," wrote a fan.

"That’s rude, not to mention stupid. Every athlete smells bad," a fan jokingly replied.

"If the chick stinks, she stinks. Adults should be able to keep themselves from smelling really bad, it's not a high bar," one wrote taking Dart's side.

Before this, Harriet Dart had been under criticism due to her past exchanges.

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Harriet Dart's on-court spat with umpire at 2024 Nottingham Open

Harriet Dart is notorious for her behavior on court- Source: Getty

Harriet Dart has been notorious for her behavior on the court, especially during moments of frustration. In June 2024, she had a heated exchange with the umpire during the Nottingham Open match against Katie Boulter, where she accused the umpire of shaming herself with the wrong decision and even bet over the ball being in or out.

She also faced warnings of code violation, but still continued to display her distaste over the decision. Despite making her WTA Tour debut in 2015, Dart's career is overshadowed by controversies rather than her performances on court, where she has registered one doubles title and five singles ITF triumphs so far.