Women's basketball player Sue Bird has said it was 'surreal' when President Donald Trump criticised her girlfriend and World Cup-winning soccer star Megan Rapinoe.

Trump did not take kindly to Rapinoe refusing to go to the White House if the US won the World Cup last year and took to Twitter to launch an attack at the midfielder.

Speaking about the verbal altercation, Bird told CNN: "I think we both woke up, looked at it and was like, 'Is this really happening?'

"After that, oddly enough, it presented this opportunity for Megan.

"I think not a lot of people talk about her ability to kind of take the heat from the president and be able to clap back, if you will, and then still perform.

"As an athlete, that's incredibly difficult. She took that on, she took that pressure and still was able to perform."

The basketball player, who has now been with Rapinoe for two years, has said she has learnt a lot from her partner.

"I've learned so much from Megan. Just watching her, how she carries herself, how she believes in certain things and sticks to it, never wavers, and there is a confidence that is required for that," she added.

"Who better to share ideas with, compare ideas with, poke holes in each other's ideas?

"I mean, it's really nice to just sit down and have someone to talk to that is going through the exact same things. More than anything I'm just incredibly proud of her."