The Wimbledon Men’s Final ended up being one of the biggest “epics” in the history of Center Court. Roger Federer was going for his 21st Slam title, Novak Djokovic was going for his 16th. The buzz around the final in the 48 hours beforehand was “too close to call.” That’s how much of the match was too, with Djokovic and Federer producing brilliant streaks at times, and not so brilliant streaks at times. Even with some breaks of serve, the fifth set ended up 12-all and so they got to use the new Wimbledon rule to end these marathon encounters: a tiebreak to 7. At the end of the day, Roger Federer lost all three tiebreaks he played on Sunday. It was a heartbreaking loss for Fedfans. It was also the longest men’s final in the history of Wimbledon.
I’m a little bit jealous of the people who actually got to attend the match live, those people got to witness some interesting tennis history. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were of course front and center in the Royal Box, but did anyone catch the fact that Benedict Cumberbatch, Sophie Hunter and Tom Hiddleston were also in the Royal Box, several rows back behind Rod Laver? It’s true. Sophie was actually sandwiched between Hiddles and Cumby. If this was 2015, I’m sure that would have been breaking news and this post would get 500-plus comments. As it is now, I’m sure this is more of a minor gossip footnote. I will say this: Benedict’s hair looks better and this is the best he’s looked in a few years. Tom looked great too.
For what it’s worth, Hiddles and Cumberbatch are regulars at Wimbledon, and both men tend to wait to come out for the Gentleman’s Final. I’m not sure if we’ve ever seen them at the Ladies’ Final on the last Saturday of the fortnight. It looked like Benedict and Sophie left after Djokovic won the championship, but Tom did stay to watch the Women’s Doubles Final, and I love him a little bit for that. In my mind, Hiddles is a huge Su-Wei Hsieh fan and he got to watch her win her first Wimbledon title.
True tennis fans stay until the end: @twhiddleston is now watching the women's doubles final. #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/D1rIni7oZp
— Tennis (@tennis_photos) July 14, 2019
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Getty.
I saw the pictures of Sophie and Benedict arriving and thought “oh, they’re still together?” I wish Cumby and Michael Fassbender would do more mainstream work. They really dropped off the past few years and this outing for Benedict makes me miss them both.
There’s a Doctor Strange sequence coming in a few years.
Doctor Strange 2 is apparently on the way, so you will get your wish. Fassbender? Who knows! He remains really really compelling in everything but his mainstream movie picker is scary bad.
Thank the gods Benedict’s hair is back. I get that the earlier hair was for that big Sam Mendes movie but just….no.
Fassbender was just in Dark Phoenix. Admittedly, it tanked but he was in it and doing promotional work for it.
I think he does blockbusters to pay for his life in Lisbon now. I love him as an actor and would love to see him do more movies like Frank. Although if he is going to do more blockbusters, at least do a sequel to Assasins Creed (I surprised myself by really enjoying that movie – the game plot really lends itself to a movie franchise).
Lol why wouldn’t they still be together?
As for Fassbender he has basically low-key retired from acting. He has two rumored projects that are in pre-production but have no release dates. He’s basically been focusing on living in Portugal and racing cars.
Benedict Cumberbatch was literally just in the second biggest movie of all time.
That trio was a talented one and hopeful in 2015, but things did not turn out so well. Tom has been doing theater, but I would love to see him in a new role in a movie or TV series, something different to Loki, he is really good but the infamous relationship he had really hurt him. Benedict Cumby has Dr. Strange 2 and it seems that it is finally going to be release “Current war”, but his work decreased. Fassbender has the worst outcome. Do you have seen him recently? he is a ghost of what he used to be, his voice is so thin and bleak and his eyes lost the spark and looks tired. It is worrying because it looks bad and with “issues”, that “self-imposed” retirement from acting to racing cars sounds suspicious, something fishy is behind it. I hope he can recover and return his career to be what it was before 2014, but for this he should make decisions like changing all his team (Agents, PR, etc) and people from his inner circle … and I do not think he would do that, he is lazy, not so smart and not sure he is healthy enough to make changes.
I can’t speculate about what is going on with Fassbender but my thoughts on TH and BC was that they were both coming off very a couple of very busy years and events that exposed them to the darker side of celebrity–in BC’s case the reaction to his marriage/wife and it TH’s case the fall out of his relationship with Swift s-so maybe they did want to hit pause for a bit on the craziness. Plus BC now has young children and maybe doesn’t want to take roles that will take him away from his family for long periods of time? He has also done more recent, smaller projects with his production company SunnyMarch –A Child in Time, Brexit movie and Patrick Melrose (all of which aired on British TV or PBS/HBO/Showtime in the US).
However, I do think that they are both ambitious and if they were getting offered quality staring roles in films, they’d probably be taking them. Maybe they won’t have the Hollywood A list careers that maybe they’d hoped for but I think that they are both talented and will have fulfilling careers as many British actors do, doing independent British films, character parts in some Hollywood films, theatre work as well as roles in quality British TV productions.
@maxine makes totally sense your arguments and i agree with you that sometimes is better to have a good quality career far away from Hollywood stardom doing independent British films, character parts in some Hollywood films, theater work as well as roles in quality British TV productions. My only complain is not being able to see them onstage in London…yet, yes, i am selfish ;).
They are talented actors (incluing Fassbender, that is why is so sad to see him now), i am sure Tom and BC will be fine.
I do not understand this “their careers are failing” attitude I am seeing repeated on this thread. Something is obvs going on with Fassbender, so I will leave that aside, but Hiddles and Cumby are doing really well, they’ve just been absorbed into celebrity culture. They’re not the hot new thing anymore, so their every move is not as scrutinized as it was when they first broke out. They both also seem to have taken steps to draw back their publicity, especially Hiddles after the Swifting, but they have both worked consistently for the last few years. Tom did Night Manager in 2016, and then has done 1-2 movies a year since and also is now in a widely regarded play that is transferring to Broadway. That is a *big deal.* Benedict has worked *so much* even as he has started a family. Since 2016 he has had 2+ credits every year (not counting cameos). Not to mention he has one of the biggest roles in Avengers: Infinity War. He has *four* credits this year. He is working all the time. Can we stop acting like their careers have imploded? They’re fine. Except maybe Fassbender.
Hiddles is looking GOOD… and that’s coming from someone who never saw the appeal.
I agree! I think it’s the long hair?
Agreed he does look GOOD and I didn’t see the appeal until just now.
Fassbender, ah my love. What happened????
I love the curly long hair!!
I’ve always seen the appeal but long hair suits him
The camera people and the video director were clearly dragonflies. Tom showed up on my TV screen multiple times, with Benedict and Sophie in one shot, but mostly just him. Gloriously. And the print on his tie is little tennis racquets.
Pimms and and champagne and strawberries on the veranda this morning.
I’ll be right over with some chocolate treats.
That was an incredible match. My husband is a complete tennis nut and watched the whole thing (I came in about midway but was immediately hooked to see how it ended). He was rooting for Federer and was very disappointed about his loss. I remember being all “Ohhh, there’s Tom Hiddleston” when he showed up on screen. Pretty sure the possibility of seeing him again is what kept me clued to the tv more than the actual match 😉
I’ll bring the freshly squeezed orange juice in case anyone is feeling a mimosa.
Hiddles does look delicious with the longer hair, doesn’t he? As much as he hated wearing wig for Loki, it would be delightful if he got to use his natural hair and just color it. His texture is so much better than they ever managed with the wigs.
I’m here for the generous mimosa offer (as well as the eye candy) so many, many thanks!
For my part, I’ve come bearing a selection of almond, chocolate and classic croissants from a French bakery. Am looking forward to various comments from sports fans (a notoriously passionate bunch).
And yes that hair is glorious!
That pic of Tom standing so Benedict can get past him to his seat is the type of pic that once would’ve launched a thousand (self insert) fanfics….
I still haven’t recovered from Fed’s loss. So many miss opportunities. That final set will hunt me for eternity…and I wasn’t even an active part of that match. Can’t imagine what goes through Roger’s head.
Benny looks amazing. I saw more photos on Tumblr and it was 😍😍😍😍 all day for me. Love the short hair on him.
I’m so happy for Novak for winning the match and retaining the title, particularly as majority of the crowd and fans were rooting for Roger, even booing Novak at times (just like last year’s final, the crowd was with Anderson just because he was playing against Nole).
I like Roger but Novak doesn’t get a lot of credit for his talent and achievements in tennis so I’m really pleased that he won it.
I am so incredibly happy Đoković won I can’t even tell you. I much prefer him over Federer anyway and the awful annoying crowd just made it 10 times sweeter.
I was absolutely stoked that Novak won, especially after one of the commentators made a dumb comment that there’s something Slavic about his tempter and need to be liked. In your face, from this tempered Slav right here!
I bet he would be liked 10 times more if he was not Eastern European. Xenophobia at it’s finest.
Oh for crying out loud, I’m Eastern European and I dislike Djokovic intensely. I find his behavior on and off court repulsive. I was rooting for Federer.
Not everything is about politics…
I think it partially is. Prejudice against Slavic people is very much alive and well today, especially in England.
But I am biased because I can’t stand Fed and am Croatian so I would root for Đoković even just for neighbourly reasons.
Well admittedly I’m also biased because I can’t stand Djokovic. So it’s the same reaction as being an FC Barcelona fan and having Real Madrid beat you.
On a side note, I find it amusing that Eastern Europeans are disliked despite being white. So far I’ve encountered mostly racism in American/British cultures but I guess being white isn’t enough sometimes, lol. These people never cease to amaze me…. (yes, heavy sarcasm)
Saw some of these pics yesterday on the interwebs w/o Sophie. Thought – oh good will be on CB.
Let the festivities commence!!!!
Tom Hiddleston looks like a guy I dated and now I can’t unsee it and it is making me so uncomfortable.
Bad breakup?
No, just it could not continue because of distance. Since it’s the last guy I dated, it’s just more present and finding a similar guy attractive does not help haha
If BC had never done anything beyond Cabin Pressure I would still love him.
Is Sherlock coming back for another season (series in the UK)?
I sincerely doubt that Sherlock will be back as a series even though it only had 3 episodes after the way the last series ended; it pretty much tied everything up in a neat bow (not to mention all the fan drama afterward). Maybe they’ll do a one off special if the writers and actors schedules align. But it does not appear that there is anything in the works for the near future.
Cabin Pressure is actually a masterpiece, thank you for reminding me that it exists! I now have to listen to it again.
TH and BC are both looking very fine. Excellent start to my day. 🙂
Love Tom and Ben’s elegance. Both really know how to wear a suit.
The Lizard King is looking good. And it is good to see Sophie as well. Let’s add Hiddles to that as well.
Hiddles giving us some Blue Steele in that picture from the womens doubles, love that he stayed for that too, most go for the prestige of watching the mens/womens final and then leave.
He looks fantastic. That’s all I’ve got. I look forward to seeing some pics of him out and about in NY soon.
Tom is starting to grow on me. Still a way to go after the Swift mess bus he does look good and I also find it rather nice he stuck around for a women’s game despite the male final going on for ages. All of their asses must have hurt.
I’m laying THAT mess squarely at Taylor’s feet. She admitted to basically using him to het out of her relationship with Calvin Harris. I think Tom thought it was more serious and genuine than she did. And it explains why he basically fell off the radar when they broke up. That amount of scrutiny scared him and he hasn’t interacted with the public and his fans in the same way since.
He seemed to really like her and all of that was a mess. He rolled with the punches and we saw the results. I still giggle on the anniversary of the ‘I Love T.S.’ shirt but I never stopped being a fan of his.
Everyone makes fun of Hiddles for that but I think he got really hurt. Clear to me he was genuinely into her and thought the whirlwind was real and then she told the world he was her jumpoff.
I always think he got his revenge on her by only saying nice things about her. She did a whole angry, angry, why does everybody hate me when I’m so wonderful, album, but could not dunk on Tom, because he gave her no opening to do so.
I do like a lot of her music, but it is really bad relationship advice. I had to sit down with my tween niece to explain that while it may be a bop, if anyone ever says “Look what you made me do” to you – run!
I weirdly thought she had a crush on him and wanted to date him for a while. She followed him on Twitter months before he followed her back. She also sat him at her table at the Met Gala…and even liked Tumblr posts about him years before. She actually started the conversation on dancing. I just think she got embarrassed and because they dated during her biggest public humiliation, she had to write him off because she associated her negative feelings of that time with him (even though he didn’t really do anything awful). And to continue saving face, she had to rewrite history and say he was a jump off. Maybe he was, but I felt she totally had a legit crush on him.
Tom was looking especially yummy yesterday.
Tom looks so delicious in that header picture. God, what a gorgeous man!
My friend (who isn’t really familiar with either actor, just knows that I like them) texted me and said “your two British boyfriends are at Wimbledon with some girl sitting between them,” which gave me a laugh. They both look great and good to see them enjoying Wimbledon. I think the guy with Tom during the women’s doubles was Jamie Lloyd, the director of Betrayal. Which is a lead-in for public service announcement: Betrayal tickets went on sale at 10:00 AM this morning. I already have mine (friend with AmEx bought them first day of AmEx pre-sale) and we both saw it in London. Highly recommend it as not only is the acting brilliant but so is the staging of this production.
They did both look excellent! I appreciate the PSA about the Jamie Lloyd company and the sale of Betrayal on Broadway tickets. However that is not Jamie Lloyd next to Tom. It is the actor Laurence Spellman, a very old friend of Tom’s from his Cheek by Jowl days.
Ah, thanks for the correction. I’ve seen pictures of Lloyd and thought it *might* be him plus someone on twitter also mentioned that they thought it was Lloyd. At least I qualified it with “I think” and it made for a better lead in for the Betrayal tix announcement ;-).
Thanks a bunch guys! I just snagged my front row center seat for October! 🙂 My first Broadway play.
I prefer the dark blue over the light blue suit myself. Tom and Benedict seem to get along well.
They are good friends. Hiddleston was Bennys bestman.
He did a reading during the service. He was not Best Man.
Tom is looking really good. And so focused, especially when he’s watching the women’s final. Tom and a tennis player… I ship it.
Me too! Just ship anyone good and not attention seeker
Jesus Tom in these pics is giving me heart palpitations. It’s definitely the hair/beard combo.
They both look great. It occurred to me over the weekend that the only person not mentioned at all in any of these Wimbledon articles was the great Martina Navratilova! And she was sitting right behind Kate and Meghan!
I saw her and i was shocked nobody mentioned her, incredible
That is STEFAN freaking EDBERG in front of them! Tennis legend! He is not mentioned either!
I’m so happy the furore around these two seems to have died down. A lot of their more overzealous fans were the absolute worst people I ever met. Combine that with the fact that Engelbert Humperdinck is 1) not that great of a human being and 2) not that much of a good looker and 3) was on a popular show that was objectively not that great, and you’ve really got to wonder about why so many people have such bad pickers, lol.
Anyway. Come @ me, Cumbypatch fan folks. I’m not fcking scared of you.
Hiddleston and Cumberbatch both looked great…BTW, Chris Evert was also in the royal box and no one mentioned her either, LOL! Fame is fleeting for these tennis greats of bygone eras…
Surely Sophie has a nice friend she can set up with Tom, no? Some nice, non-thirsty English woman?
The last photo of BC and TH makes me chuckle. The way the light’s hitting their hair, it looks like they just came from their joint appointment with the colorist from a high-end salon. “I’ll have what HE’S having!” LOL. Both of them have such gloriously wavy hair — I’m envious!
Tom looks gorgeous in these pics, holy smokes. I scored tickets for Betrayal on Broadway today, front row mezzanine, and could not be happier. I am SO excited to be seeing him perform live.
I’d bang that man stupid. Really I would.
get in line
Back away from my husband!