David Beckham has been praised by tennis star Aryna Sabalenka for staying to watch her game on Centre Court at Wimbledon after hundreds of other fans left.
David was among a slew of celebrities in the Royal Box on Monday, including Ronan Keating, Tess Daly, Katherine Jenkins and Mary Berry.
He was one of the few people to remain at the Box to watch Belarusian star Aryna, 28, play Serbian player Teodora Kostovic on day one of Wimbledon after the men’s game between Jannik Sinner and Miomir Kecmanovic ended.
The football legend was seen surrounded by dozens of empty seats in the stadium in a social media video highlighting the marked lack of interest in women’s tennis, captioned: “In a world where the stadium clears after the men's match ends... #womeninsport.”
There were also large areas of the general seating empty during the match too.
World number one Sabalenka, 28, made sure to note Beckham’s presence in her speech after winning 6-2 6-3.
After thanking the crowd, she turned to the England legend and said: “Sir David, thank you for being here!”
After the men’s game, many celebrities were seen leaving their seats for a toilet break, to top up their drinks or simply go elsewhere.
Pointless host Alexander Armstrong, 56, and his wife, Hannah Bronwen Snow, 49, stayed for the women’s game and were seen chatting to Beckham.
David’s son Romeo, 23, and his girlfriend Kim Turnbull, 25, were also on Centre Court, but did not sit in the Royal Box.
The Real Madrid star has a close friendship with Sabalenka, having teamed up with her to promote IM8, a health and daily nutrition brand co-founded by David and health sciences company Prenetics.
David’s Wimbledon appearance comes just days after he watched the World Cup in Miami - just miles away from where his estranged son Brooklyn was.
Brooklyn was celebrating his father-in-law Nelson Peltz's 84th birthday.
His wife Nicola Peltz shared photos of the couple and her family wearing matching cowboy hats as they marked the big day with a meal at their family home.
The family photos were likely a blow to Brooklyn’s estranged family, to whom he hasn’t spoken for more than a year.
He has not publicly acknowledged any of his parents birthdays or milestones since their rift began.
The budding chef is reportedly “furious” with his parents David and Victoria following their social media posts on Father’s Day.
Sources claimed the 27-year-old is “fuming” with his family over the gesture and just “wants to be left alone”.
Both stars shared photos of Brooklyn on Instagram while marking the milestone day - despite Brooklyn’s reported requests not to tag him on social media and only contact him through his lawyer.
In January Brooklyn issued a blistering, multi-page statement to say he was cutting off his family.
He accused his “controlling” parents of trying to “ruin” his marriage to Peltz, 31, and being all about the public narrative and “Brand Beckham”.
Brooklyn claimed relations became strained around the time of his 2022 wedding to Peltz.
He accused Victoria of pulling out of making Peltz’s wedding dress at the last minute and dancing “inappropriately on him” at the wedding.
He also criticised his father David, claiming that despite travelling to the UK for David’s 50th birthday, repeated requests to meet beforehand were ignored.
