WATCH: Donna Vekic debates hairdos with Hopman Cup buddy Borna Coric

Borna Coric and Donna Vekic made a winning start to their 2023 Hopman Cup campaign, but not before hashing out the issue that could make or break their partnership: Borna’s hair.

“It’s really been the topic of the last nine months, or maybe the last ten years!” exclaims Vekic, who partnered Coric to win a hard-fought mixed doubles encounter over Elise Mertens and David Goffin and clinch a 2-1 victory for Croatia over Belgium.

“She loves it!” Coric joked of his new ‘do, a departure from the closely-cropped cut that had long been his signature. “There’ve been some ups and downs in her mood about my hair.”

“I always told him he should have a bit longer hair, but maybe now it’s a little too long for me,” elaborates Vekic. “I don’t know. Sometimes I can play with it or do braids with it, so it’s fun!”

Vekic and Coric, who have known one another since their junior days, certainly seem to be having more fun together of late, spending time at Roland Garros with the former even cooking dinner for two.

“I don't plan to return the favor,” Coric said when asked about it in Paris. “I can just take her out for dinner, but I don't cook! So that's not gonna happen.”

Coric is less decisive about when the inevitable haircut may come: asked if he may wait until he returns to the Top 20, Vekic offers an even more ambitious goal.

“Maybe he’ll cut it when he makes Top 10,” she smiles.

“If I go to Top 10, I don’t think I’m going to cut anything!” Coric replies.

Drawn into the same round robin group as Team Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, can Coric and Vekic emerge from their hairy situation and win Croatia’s first Hopman Cup title since 1996?