Wimbledon barber Karina Neeson has revealed that tennis players sometimes request unusual hair art after losing bets during the championships. The small salon, located next to Centre Court in the players' area, offers haircuts, styling, and even nail services.
Salon handles 850 haircuts in two weeks
Ms Neeson, owner of the Dandy Cat barber shop in Petersfield, Hampshire, took over management of the players' salon in 2019. She estimates that she and a team of two hairdressers will complete around 850 cuts across the two-week tournament. “I have been fully booked three days in advance, so that's working on roughly 20 a day, but then there's always people you try and squeeze in, so I will probably end up doing about 24 to 25 haircuts a day,” she said.
Bizarre requests and rescue cuts
While most players request routine cuts and beard care, some come looking for a transformation or after losing a bet. “I've had a few where they've lost a bet and they've had to go for hair art or for something like a stripe down (their head). So, sometimes they do it if there's a bet they've lost, or they do it for fun,” Ms Neeson explained. She also performs “rescue” cuts for players who have had subpar haircuts from barbers who may not speak the same language while traveling the world.
Finals weekend and ball boys/girls
The most pressured time for salon staff is finals weekend, when hundreds of ball boys and ball girls have their hair styled to be “camera-ready”. Girls receive Dutch or French plaits, while boys get a general smartening-up. Ms Neeson noted a recurring rumour: “Every year, I don't know who does this, but there's a rumour goes around that I'm going to give them all the same haircut. They come and go, 'Please don't cut my hair into this', and I'm like, 'Why would I do that? I'm not going to do that, who's telling you that I'm going to do that?' Every year, they come in terrified of me.”
A human experience away from tennis
For players, a salon appointment offers a much-needed timeout from the Wimbledon bubble. “They're on tour, what, 300 days of the year? So, it is quite literally a service for them because they can't often go out and go and do it. But I think also a lot of them really enjoy coming to us because we are not tennis-related. For half an hour, an hour, whatever, they can chat about whatever they want, or not chat at all, because often their time is so pressured, everyone's demanding something of them,” Ms Neeson said. She described it as “a much more human experience” and added, “We often learn a lot about their personal lives and their pets and stuff, things that other people don't get a chance to hear about.”
Honour to return
Ms Neeson described it as an honour to return to Wimbledon year after year, with meeting stars as an “added bonus”. “Very occasionally, you get to meet an idol. For me, getting to cut Andy Murray's hair was fantastic. He's such a lovely guy,” she said.
