British tennis star Harriet Dart has apologised for complaining about her opponent’s hygiene during their match on Tuesday.

Dart was facing French player Lois Boisson at the Open de Rouen and lost the first set without winning a single game. As the second set got underway, she then put in an unusual request to the chair umpire.

‘Can you tell her to wear deodorant?’ Dart asked. ‘She’s smelling really bad.’

Dart would go on to lose 6-0, 6-3 to crash out of the tournament, and then took to Instagram on Tuesday night to apologise for her ‘heat-of-the-moment comment’.

‘Hey everyone,’ Dart’s Instagram Story began. ‘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.’

It did not take Boisson long to respond, and she took Dart’s apology in good spirits.

Alongside a picture of herself in action on Tuesday, Boisson photoshopped an image of a Dove deodorant can and tagged the brand as she wrote on Instagram: ‘@dove apparently need a collab,’ accompanied by a prayer hands emoji and two laughing face emojis. 

Dart, who has previously reached the third round of Wimbledon on two occasions in 2019 and 2024, was widely criticised by fans on social media following her complaint, with some even calling for her to hit with a ban.

‘Dart should be suspended,’ wrote one X user. Another added: ‘This is pathetic if true.’

A third person seemed not to have believed it at first: ‘Lmao thought I misheard but she really said this.’ And a fourth wrote: ‘That is completely unacceptable from Dart. So disrespectful.’

Dart was part of the Great Britain team that reached the Billie Jean King Cup finals over the weekend after beating Germany and the Netherlands in their group.

The team booked their spot in the finals despite the late withdrawal of former US Open champion Emma Raducanu.