Harriet Dart admits she was affected by backlash over 'smells really bad' jibe at rival Lois Boisson as British No 4 aims to move on at Wimbledon
Harriet Dart admits she was affected by the backlash to her controversial on-court comments about Lois Boisson when she said that her opponent 'smells really bad'.
The British No 4 faced a social media storm over her unkind comments to Boisson during their match in a small tournament in Rouen in April where she asked the umpire to tell Boisson to put on deodorant.
Dart later issued an apology and when faced with questions ahead of Wimbledon, the 28-year-old insisted she wanted to move on from the controversy.
'I mean, I'd be lying if it didn't affect me a little bit,' said Dart ahead of her first-round match against Hungary's Dalma Galfi on Monday. 'I'm human at the end of the day. We all make mistakes and I just try to look forward.
'I've gone through some difficulties these weeks and I don't always share what I go through but I'm just looking forward and preparing the best I can.
'I also don't know why we're even still talking about this. It's been months now. I feel like I answered a lot of questions that were asked of me and that's it, but I really just want to put it behind me and go forward.'
Dart has struggled with her form this year and has seen her ranking slip outside the top 100, winning just seven matches since the incident with Boisson.
Dart was much happier with her form at Eastbourne where she had two match points against current Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova.
'I've played some really good players, so it's been tough,' she added. 'I've had a change of coaching and everything as well. So it's been kind of like a lot going on.
'I was much happier with my performance last week and I felt much more confident going into this week with how my level's been.'
Dart revealed she likes to relax away from tennis by building Lego, building sets from Harry Potter as well as Lewis Hamilton's F1 car.
'My family and I love to do Lego at home,' said Dart. 'I take it on the road, I've got a lot of cars. You can do different Porsches or McLarens. It's fun, it's very peaceful.
'I've done like Statue of Liberty and the Harry Potter set. I have got the world map to do. I'd love to have eventually like a room full of stuff because I've seen like some quite cool things that people have done, but I'm not on that level yet.'
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