[custom_adv] The actor, 59, attended the Wimbledon women's singles finals on Saturday alongside Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff. There the trio watched as Australian Ashleigh Barty faced off against the Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova, with Barty ultimately winning the match. [custom_adv] The official Twitter account for the tennis championship also shared a pair of fun videos in honor of Cruise, who wore a sharp blue suit for the outing. [custom_adv] Several months earlier, an audio recording leaked late last year that featured Cruise lashing out at crew members on the set of Mission: Impossible 7 over COVID-19 protocols being neglected. [custom_adv] A whole host of stars were also spotted topping buy the VIP suite hosted by Polo Ralph Lauren, with Bridgerton's Jonathan Bailey, who is set to be the centre of the hit Netflix show's second series, heading up the celebs in attendance. [custom_adv] The 38-year-old actress sat two rows behind Kate Middleton and Prince William while attending the event, where Australian tennis player Ashleigh Barty won the match.Also in attendance at the event were Claire Danes and her husband, The Good Fight actor Hugh Dancy. [custom_adv] The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly known simply as Wimbledon or The Championships, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious.It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is played on outdoor grass courts, since 2009 with a retractable roof over Centre Court, and since 2019 over No. 1 Court. [custom_adv] Wimbledon is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the others being the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open. Wimbledon is the only major still played on grass, which is the traditional tennis playing surface. [custom_adv] The tournament traditionally took place over two weeks in late June and early July, starting on the last Monday in June and culminating with the Ladies' and Gentlemen's Singles Finals, scheduled for the Saturday and Sunday at the end of the second week. However, changes to the tennis calendar in 2015 have seen the event moved back by a week to begin in early July. [custom_adv] Wimbledon is widely considered the world's premier tennis tournament and the priority of the club is to maintain its leadership. To that end a long-term plan was unveiled in 1993, intended to improve the quality of the event for spectators, players, officials and neighbours. [custom_adv] Stage one (1994–1997) of the plan was completed for the 1997 championships and involved building the new No. 1 Court in Aorangi Park, a broadcast centre, two extra grass courts and a tunnel under the hill linking Church Road and Somerset Road. Stage two (1997–2009) involved the removal of the old No. 1 Court complex to make way for the new Millennium Building, providing extensive facilities for players, press, officials and members, and the extension of the West Stand of the Centre Court with 728 extra seats. [custom_adv] Stage three (2000–2011) was completed with the construction of an entrance building, club staff housing, museum, bank and ticket office.A new retractable roof was built in time for the 2009 championships, marking the first time that rain did not stop play for a lengthy time on Centre Court. [custom_adv] The Club tested the new roof at an event called A Centre Court Celebration on Sunday, 17 May 2009, which featured exhibition matches involving Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Kim Clijsters and Tim Henman. The first Championship match to take place under the roof was the completion of the fourth round women's singles match between Dinara Safina and Amélie Mauresmo. [custom_adv] The first match to be played in its entirety under the new roof took place between Andy Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka on 29 June 2009. Murray was also involved in the match completed latest in the day at Wimbledon, which ended at 11:02 pm in a victory over Marcos Baghdatis at Centre Court in the third round of the 2012 Championships. The 2012 Men's Singles Final on 8 July 2012, between Roger Federer and Murray, was the first singles final to be partially played under the roof, which was activated during the third set.
