Courtside Cuts: The Hairstylist Who Pampers Players at the U.S. Open

Julien Farel, with a regular clientele that includes Catherine Deneuve, Kate Moss, Brooke Shields, Sienna Miller, Liam Neeson, and countless other high-profilers, is among the most sought-after hairstylists today. His haircuts command a rate of US$1,250, and an appointment to see him is considered a coveted “get.”

But Farel’s role as the official stylist for the U.S. Open may be his biggest calling card, at least according to Farel himself, who’s had the gig since 2007.

“I approached the Open about having an onsite salon for players at the tournament, and it took me five years of pitching to finally get the contract,” Farel, a native of France, says during an interview at his eponymous salon at the Loews Regency New York hotel on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. (He has a second salon in Palm Beach, Fla.)

The position has Farel and seven employees creating a temporary salon at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, N.Y., on the penthouse level in a secure area where players can freely walk around without being surrounded by spectators.

The roughly 250-square-foot space is a perk for the 500 or so stars who participate in the Open and offers haircuts, blow-dries, hairstyling, and makeup sessions, manicures and pedicures, Farel says. It debuts for the season two days before the tournament begins and is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. throughout the event. The official dates for the 2024 U.S. Open are Aug. 26 to Sept. 8.

Over the years, his salon has hosted several hundred players, according to Farel, including Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Coco Gauff, and Novak Djokovic. Retired players, including Billie Jean King, whose moniker is part of the official name of the U.S. Open venue—the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center—have also stopped in, Farel says.

“The players make appointments, but if an A-Lister like [Rafael] Nadal or Djokovic walks in, we try to make it work,” Farel says. “We’re busy all day for the entire Open.”

Patrick McEnroe, a retired professional player and an ESPN tennis commentator of the U.S. Open, is a client of Farel’s at his Manhattan salon. McEnroe says that Farel is also a friend, and he visits him at his Arthur Ashe salon whenever he can.

“It’s a hot spot and where all the players hang out and socialise,” McEnroe says. “They love coming to the salon, and it’s a great amenity for them.”

On-site salons for players at major tennis tournaments aren’t uncommon, but Farel was the first to introduce the concept to the U.S. Open, he says. (A representative for the U.S. Open is unable to confirm if this is the case.)

Farel’s experience as a tournament stylist was the impetus for bringing his salon to the Open.

“I worked at Roland-Garros in Paris at the French Open for a decade under my mentor Jacques Dessange, who had an on-site salon there,” Farel says. “I did haircuts and styling for all the big players at the time, including Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, and Monica Seles.”

Eric Butorac, the director of player relations for the U.S. Open, says that the tournament’s executives offer the salon as a benefit to players because they recognise that they’re under the public eye and need to look their best. “We understand they’re under scrutiny, and we understand the challenge of life on the road, where they’re living out of a suitcase,” Butorac says. “Julien’s salon is well-used and an amenity that isn’t related to a player’s tennis performance the way our fitness centre or nap rooms are.”

Croatian player Donna Vekic, who is fresh off winning a silver medal at the Olympics, takes full advantage of the perk. The star says that she frequents the salon throughout the tournament for blow dries, manicures, and pedicures and also visits the Manhattan location for colour jobs.

“It’s very convenient to have it at the stadium,” Vekic says. “I want to look and feel good when I’m playing.”

And if they don’t hit up the salon during the tournament, some players will stop by when the matches are finished, Farel says. “Many of the players are so busy during the Open that they only get time to pamper themselves when the tournament is over.”

The Apple growth and profit machine is wavering, and the boost from price increases might not be enough to keep it going at historic rates. That dials up the pressure on Apple’s new chief executive, John Ternus.

The company saved the bad news for its earnings call, an hour after it posted its results for the September quarter, projecting that for the current quarter its high-margin services business will continue to slow and that its widely watched gross profit margin will continue to fall.

Apple AAPL -1.83%decrease; down pointing triangle shares had been flat in post-close trading but declined as much as 4% after the company made the projections, which fell short of Wall Street estimates.

The impact of high memory costs are weighing even more heavily on the company, Ternus and Apple Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh said on the company’s earnings call. Apple has stockpiled cheaper components purchased earlier, but those inventories are dwindling.

When Ternus took over as Apple’s third chief executive of the past 29 years on Sept. 1, he inherited sky-high expectations. The men he followed were among the most successful company leaders in American business history. Steve Jobs revolutionized consumer devices multiple times. Tim Cook expanded Jobs’s creation to spectacular heights.

The expectations are reflected in Apple’s huge valuation. Oppenheimer analyst Martin Yang noted that Apple stock trades at 36 times next year’s expected earnings, a premium to the overall market, even though its earnings are only expected to grow 1%, which is slower than its tech peers.

“We see insufficient upside to justify the premium,” Yang wrote in an investor note, adding that Apple needs to boost iPhone sales growth and turn around its slowing services business to make him more bullish.

Investors have bid up Apple shares because it has been a port in the AI storm—a reliable and capital-efficient business that stands apart from rivals which are spending hundreds of billions of dollars racing to the AI frontier.

While others invest in data centers, Apple has been pouring its own cash into buybacks and dividends. But that safety may be challenged if Ternus can’t speed up Apple’s innovation engine.

Apple’s lagging performance in AI was evident when its new “Siri AI” chatbot arrived this past quarter. Its long-maligned assistant was already stale the day it arrived, surpassed by agents such as Instinct and Muse that can complete multistep tasks for consumers, while Siri still sets kitchen timers.

Apple needs to give people reasons to buy its devices as they get more expensive. The company raised prices across the board last quarter to help offset higher costs. Without compelling new features, a big question is whether consumers will slow the frequency of iPhone upgrades.

The new iPhone Duo appears to be a bright spot. Consumers are scooping up the $1,999 foldable smartphone despite mixed reviews—so many that Apple can’t keep up with demand. Shipping dates jumped out to January soon after the device went on sale, a disappointment for the normally reliable Apple supply chain.

Apple said its revenue grew 12% in the September quarter, slightly ahead of Wall Street’s expectations. Its widely tracked gross profit margin, at 47.9%, also came in just ahead of analyst estimates.

Apple will need to find new growth avenues because a reliable engine during the Cook era—the services business—is slowing. Courts and regulators worldwide have limited Apple’s ability to charge developers big fees to distribute apps through its App Store, the biggest component of the company’s services segment.

One of its most lucrative App Store fee generators has been the ChatGPT app from OpenAI. Around the time Apple accused OpenAI of trade-secret theft this past summer, OpenAI began redirecting potential subscribers to pay via its website instead of the App Store, skirting Apple’s tollbooth.

Apple’s valuation has bumped up against a ceiling in recent weeks. Six times it traded above a $5 trillion market capitalization intraday before finally closing above the threshold, which it has already fallen back below.

News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal, has a commercial agreement to supply news through Apple services.

Courtside Cuts: The Hairstylist Who Pampers Players at the U.S. Open

Apple’s growth engine is showing signs of slowing, as rising costs, weaker services growth and AI competition challenge its profitability. With John Ternus taking the helm, the pressure is on to reignite innovation and sustain investor confidence.