." I merely won and I prefer thumps," Croatian ping pong superstar Donna Vekiu0107 announces Friday mid-day of the US Open. She's only trumped Peyton Stearns-- and also after flexing and bathing-- her next stop pre-press conference is the petit Julien Farel pop-up beauty shop hidden inside Queens's Arthur Ashe Arena. "I had been standing by all season to see Julian and also obtain raps influenced by Margot Robbie." Greater than twenty years back, hairdresser Julien Farel approached the United States Ping Pong Association along with a tip: a beauty salon where tennis players could come over for a haircut, design, or one more kind of self-care throughout the United States Open, among one of the most high-intensity competitions of their year. "It took them 5 years to okay me," Farel, now 16 years right into the beauty parlor relationship at the Open, tells me with a smile. "I was incredibly consistent since I recognized this would certainly be a perk for many athletes. And I corrected. Right now, they expect this minute to find in as well as receive a hairstyle." Most of the sport's greatest titles have actually rested inside this beauty shop, which is actually simply available in the course of both weeks of the competition: "I cut Rafael Nadal's hair coming from lengthy to short in 2010, that took place right here and it was actually a huge package. Everybody from Billie Jean King to [Martina] Navratilova has sat in these chairs. Our company possessed Coco below right after she won in 2014's competition, too." Vekiu0107 and her new bangs, recently reduced by Julien Farel.Photographed by Caroline Tompkins.