If you were a nicer human, you would actually have empathy for someone: Rennae Stubbs defends Iga Swiatek amidst criticism for United Cup crying

Former doubles World No. 1 Rennae Stubbs came to Iga Swiatek's defense after she was criticized for crying following her defeat to Jessica Pegula at the United Cup.

Swiatek suffered her second loss to the American during Poland's tie against the United States. She broke into tears shortly after the match and received a lot of criticism from fans for it.

A Twitter user slammed Iga Swiatek for crying and called her a crybaby who thought she was unbeatable.

"Iga is a crybaby she thinks she is unbeatable and got her a** kicked..nothing wrong with being humbled once in a while," the tweet read.

Stubbs instantly came to Swiatek's defense and called out the fan for his aggressive comments towards the Pole.

"Todd. I’m going to help U here. Iga & Jess frankly are two of THE nicest women on tour. If Iga cried it’s because she feels like she let her team down or whatever the reason, it’s ok. But to be so aggressive towards Iga when u don’t know her personally is incredible to me," Stubbs' tweet read.

"It's not the first time I cried after a lost match" - Iga Swiatek

Iga Swiatek in action at the United Cup

Iga Swiatek was asked why she cried after her loss to Jessica Pegula during the post-match press conference. The Pole responded by saying that she was disappointed with her performance and that the defeat was hard to take as she was representing her country.

"Because I just knew that I felt kind of helpless today, because physically and mentally I wasn't able to kind of show up even, and problem-solve," Swiatek said.

The 21-year-old added that she was simply sad and downplayed the incident, saying that he has cried before after losing.

"So it's always hard when you lose, especially when you're kind of playing for the team and your country. So I was just sad. But, you know, it's not the first time I cried after a lost match. Nothing special," Iga Swiatek said.

Poland were knocked out of the United Cup as they were thrashed 5-0 by the United States in the semifinals. The Americans will face either Italy or Greece in the final.

Swiatek was initially scheduled to compete in the Adelaide International 2 but she withdrew from the tournament due to a shoulder injury. The 21-year-old will look to return to action at the 2023 Australian Open, where she is the top seed.