Contained in the Tremendous-VIP Hair Salon at The US Open

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“I simply gained and I need bangs,” Croatian tennis star Donna Vekić proclaims Friday afternoon of the US Open. She’s simply crushed Peyton Stearns—and after stretching and showering—her subsequent cease pre-press convention is the petit Julien Farel pop-up salon hidden inside Queens’s Arthur Ashe Stadium. “I had been ready all season to see Julian and get bangs impressed by Margot Robbie.”

Greater than 20 years in the past, hairstylist Julien Farel approached the USA Tennis Affiliation with an thought: a salon the place tennis gamers might come by for a haircut, fashion, or one other type of self-care throughout the US Open, one of the vital high-intensity competitions of their 12 months. “It took them 5 years to say sure to me,” Farel, now 16 years into the salon partnership on the Open, tells me with a smile. “I used to be very persistent as a result of I knew this could be a perk for a lot of athletes. And I used to be proper. Now, they anticipate this second to come back in and get a haircut.”

Most of the sport’s greatest names have sat inside this salon, which is simply open throughout the two weeks of the competitors: “I minimize Rafael Nadal’s hair from lengthy to quick in 2010, that occurred proper right here and it was an enormous deal. Everyone from Billie Jean King to [Martina] Navratilova has sat in these chairs. We had Coco right here proper after she gained final 12 months’s event, too.”