Like many New Jersians, the proximity of the U.S. Open played in Flushing Meadows Queens, might have kept you tied to your set for the past two weeks. And surely, it’s not just the New York tri-state area that tunes in. But past the resounding play of the stars, did you know that at Arthur Ashe Stadium, a pop-up salon pops up, as it has been doing for fifteen years, where a well-known hair stylist gives free, walk-in-only cuts to the tournament’s players?

This spot, created just for these two weeks, is manned by a renowned French hairstylist who works and owns salons in New York and Florida, Julien Farel. At his salons, Farel’s cuts can run over a thousand dollars; at the U.S. Open, they are free…and only for the athletes.

Farel famously cut Rafael Nadal’s hair from long to short, although Farel prefers longer hair on men. On women, he likes bangs and layers in their long hair. This year, he trimmed Austin Krajicek and Magdalena Fręch, to name just a few.

Since attention is on tennis action, maybe these days the unique couture players choose to wear and the occasional controversy over what an overly excited New York tennis fan might shout at a match, none of us really think of hair styling when it comes to the U.S. Open. But what Farel manages certainly seems to fall into the category of “somebody has got to do it.”

And he seems to do it with aplomb.

The last time any hair story made it through the rounds of tennis reporting was when we all learned that not only did Andre Agassi wear a varied color mane-like wig during the 1990s, but there was one match that he played worried less about his tennis performance, and more that the wig might fall off!

(Of course, our hair wearers do not have that worry at Guci Image).

It’s good to know Julien Farel is doing his part.