Outrage as Tom Cruise steals the show in the stands as Aussie Ash Barty wins Wimbledon final

Tennis fans have caused a racquet over Tom Cruise getting too much attention in the stands at the Wimbledon final that threatened to upstage Ashleigh Barty.

The Australian women’s world No.1 beat world No.13 Karolina Pliskova in an epic final decided in three sets on Saturday night.

Barty, 25, is the third Australian woman to win the grand slam, the last one being Evonne Goolagong 41 years ago.

But the camera’s fixation on Hollywood star cruise as he watched the match ensured not all eyes were on centre court.

Cruise made his presence felt in the stands and lapped up attention when the cameras zoomed in on him by standing up from his seat to cheer as he waved and bowed to the crowd.

The Mission Impossible 7 star, sitting with fellow co-stars Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff, was also spotted posing for photographs with spectators.

But not everyone was happy to see the A-lister’s face on screen as Cruise was roasted online for his antics.

‘Seriously. Sit down. It’s about the two amazing players on the court. Crowd should be interested in them, one woman commented.

Another quipped: ‘Now if only there’d been a sofa for him to jump on.’

Australians were also frustrated about Cruise stealing Barty’s thunder.

‘I’m surprised the official Wimbledon account noticed Ash won cos they seem to be obsessed with Tom Cruise,’ Aboriginal activist Professor Megan Davis tweeted.

Earlier on in the afternoon, a relaxed Barty played homage to her Australian roots in her pre-match warm up on centre court as the diehard Richmond Tigers AFL supporter showed off her ball skills with a footy.

‘Practice with a distinctly Aussie touch,’ Wimbledon captioned the photos on its official Twitter account.

The tweet was inundated with comments from Aussies fans who stayed up late watching back home.

‘As if we needed another reason to love Ash,’ one commented.

Some suggested Barty was hinting for a possible call-up for the Tigers.

‘You can practice that when doing pre-season with Richmond Womens,’ one tweeted. 

Richmond were among the first to congratulate their number one ticket holder on her Wimbledon triumph early Sunday morning Australian time.

‘A champion effort. An inspiration to us all. Congratulations on making history,’ the Tigers posted.

Barty fell to her knees and wept with joy moments after her 6-3, 6-7 and 6-3 win in just under two hours.

It was the first time in the tournament an opponent had pushed Barty to three sets in front of a packed arena which included Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge and previous Wimbledon champions Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King.  

Barty cut a lone figure in the media room as she fielded questions from reporters via Zoom during her post-match press conference. 

‘It took me a long time to verbalise the fact that I wanted to dare a dream and say I wanted to win this incredible tournament and being able to live out my dream right now with everyone here, this has made it better than I could have imagined,’ Barty said after hoisting the Venus Rosewater Dish into the air.

‘I didn’t sleep a lot last night. I was thinking of all the what ifs, but I think when I was coming out on this court, I felt at home in a way.

‘I think being able to share that with everyone here, to share that with my team, is incredible.’

She also paid tribute to the Australian fans watching back at home who stayed up late.

‘I know they’re at home watching. I miss them, I love them. I’m so glad that they were able to at least watch and share this with me. But I can’t wait to get home to them in a few month’s time and really celebrate,’ she said.