Quote of the Day: Is anyone going to ask Donna Vekic about her bangs?

NEW YORK—Tennis, shmennis. Let’s talk about Donna Vekic getting bangs.

The Olympic silver medalist showed off a cleanse to her face courtesy of the US Open’s in-house stylist Julien Farel, but started to sense jealousy of her risk-taking and completely halted Friday’s press conference to talk about it.

Q. I'm curious what the traffic has been like?

DONNA VEKIC: Nobody is going to ask me about my bangs? I just cut them.

Q. Tell us about them.

DONNA VEKIC: Yeah, I've always wanted to cut my bangs, but a friend pushed me to do it (laughing).

In fairness, there were a lot of other things to talk about: already in the midst of a career-revitalizing season, Vekic was coming off a fairly monumental win in Flushing Meadows, one that put her into the second week of a second straight major tournament. It was also best result in New York since 2019, when she reached the quarterfinals.

“Would I say that I came to New York thinking, okay, I'm going to win US Open? No,” said Vekic. “Once you get through the first couple of rounds, everything is possible.

“Nowadays, I think everyone has a chance to win. It's just a matter of how you are feeling on the day over the two weeks. It's tough for sure to win a slam. It's the toughest thing ever in tennis, but I do believe I have a chance.”

The Croat has struggled in subsequent outing and often cited the quickening court conditions at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, a claim which never quite made sense given her perennial success on grass.

“Grass is not really fast,” the No. 24 seed clarified after defeating American Peyton Stearns in straight sets. “It gets fast towards the end of the tournament, but then you're in the rhythm. It's the same on fast hard courts. If you get through, if you survive the first couple of matches, you get into the rhythm. It becomes a little bit easier.

“This year I think it's a little bit slower than last year, and definitely slower than Cincinnati, which was like playing on a different planet. It's still a bit tricky, but I feel like I'm playing better and better with each match. If I'm serving well, it helps me get some free points.”

Facing a rematch of the Olympic final against No. 7 seed Zheng Qinwen in the next round, can Vekic continue to swim upstream against the conditions and match her best US Open result?