Former women’s doubles No. 1 Rennae Stubbs has expressed regret over disparaging comments made by podcast co-founder Caitlin Thompson towards Iga Swiatek following her Roland Garros triumph.

Swiatek became the third woman in the Open Era to win three successive French Opens over a week ago. In the final, she laid waste to first-time Grand Slam finalist Jasmine Paolini. She dropped just three games in the final to win her fifth major.

But the win sparked widespread controversy from different angles. One was that Swiatek had reduced women’s tennis to becoming monotonous and predictable to watch. This criticism was met with a furious reaction by retired WTA star Andrea Petkovic, who termed it “blatant misogyny.”

And if that wasn’t enough hate, remarks made by Caitlin Thompson about Swiatek’s looks and personality during an episode of The Racquet’s Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast angered avid followers of the World No. 1.

In a tweet, Thompson is quoted as saying in the podcast, “She was similarly not glamorous. She was similarly, definitely not a locker room favorite. Ego seems way more beloved than this one was. Also wore a hat and obscured her face. Also had some kind of spectrumy, strange interaction with other people on the tour.”

An incensed fan took to X (formerly Twitter) to express disappointment with the show, saying, “I just listened to the actual podcast, and my god, it is worse than the actual description – she literally went on a personal attack of Iga for ten straight minutes and stopped short of calling her the R-word. Why do these people even have a platform?”

Stubbs, whose appearance on the show was extremely positive when reflecting on Swiatek’s win, has since apologized for Thompson’s comments in one of her replies to a fan’s tweet and edited out the hateful comments from the podcast.

“As u know & have heard i am a huge fan & also friend of Igas & those words are not a reflection of me or my feelings of her as a player or person. I should have never allowed those comments to be said about her on my pod. So appreciate if you would take this post down like i have.”

“Yes and i was uncomfortable at the time she said it and i should have checked it and edited it out, which i since have done. It was not ok. And i agree.”