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Photo: Everett Bogue

When Pecknold compared the venue to an underground Communist lair, and some in attendance unleashed anarchist battle cries (“Let’s burn it down!”), drummer Josh Tillman responded with a little snark. “Except here it would be ‘let’s carry our tote bags,’” he piped up. “This is Brooklyn.” After a volley of boos (and someone’s threat to “open a tote bag full of ‘whoop ass’”), Tillman claimed he was just good-naturedly pointing out the similarities between his hippie hometown and Park Slope. People didn’t seem to buy it. “Oh well,” said Tillman, entirely obscured behind his woolly bandleader. “Thank God none of you can see what I look like.” —Sarah Maslin Nir

WIMBLEDON, England — Finally, five years removed from the gut-wrenching emotions of the Serena Slam era, the Williams sisters let it fly in a Grand Slam final.
It was like a palate-cleansing sorbet, a blast of fresh air at the All England Club that swept away all the memories of awkward tennis and charges of fixed matches.

There were grunts and shrieks, fist pumps, ripped backhands aimed with malice at the midsection, a Wimbledon-record 129 mph serve — and a fabulous seven-deuce, 21-point game that consumed 14 minutes. There might have been more drama squeezed into this 1-hour, 51-minute ladies’ final than in the 15 previous meetings between Venus and Serena Williams combined.

And so, after losing five consecutive Grand Slam finals to her younger sister — the last here in 2003 — Venus finally prevailed 7-5, 6-4. As she ecstatically ran to the net, she mouthed the word “wow” several times.

“I can’t believe it’s five,” Venus said breathlessly on Centre Court. “When you play Serena Williams, five seems so far away.”

But there it is: Venus has five Wimbledon championships, including the past two, now at the advanced age (by professional tennis standards) of 28. In the four decades of Open era tennis, only Martina Navratilova (nine titles) and Steffi Graf (seven) have won here more. For at least a day, Venus has as many Wimbledon titles as Roger Federer.

In her past matches against Serena, particularly the five straight in the finals of majors, Venus seemed willing to stand by as her little sister — always in search-and-destroy mode — dictated policy.

Both sisters were asked afterward if they could, at any point, forget that their sister was standing on the other side of the net.

“Yeah,” Serena said sullenly. “I don’t really think of it at all.

“I was out there playing for Serena.”

Tellingly, Venus had the opposite answer.

“At no point am I ever able to forget that it’s Serena,” Venus said, sounding sincere, “because I have the ultimate respect for her game. If I was playing anyone else, I wouldn’t have to face what I had to face today, so it’s impossible to forget.”

Yet Venus found a way to put the hammer down. It was a well-played final in which Serena maintained a statistical edge. She had more aces, fewer double faults, more winners and fewer unforced errors than Venus.

But Venus, older and on this day wiser, was bigger in the big points. Displaying a confidence against Serena we have not seen since her 2001 U.S. Open final win, Venus converted four of seven break points, while Serena was a surprisingly tentative 2-for-13.

“I think I was maybe a little bit more relaxed than her,” Venus said.

Over the years, the Williams sisters have been criticized for their emotionally flat performances against each other. This time, it appeared, they both wanted to win badly. Afterward, Serena was in a foul mood. In her postmatch news conference, she gave short, monotone answers. When asked about a curious point in which she graciously gave Venus a point on a let call, her eyes narrowed.

“I don’t know,” Serena said. “I forgot about the match, pretty much.”

The last question was a statement: You don’t look happy at all.

“I don’t?” Serena said, sarcastically. “I wonder why.”

Even three-time Wimbledon champion John McEnroe, not the biggest fan of women’s tennis, was impressed with the quality of the match. He actually hoped out loud for a third set.

“This is the most competitive match I’ve seen between them,” McEnroe said. “For the first time, to me it looked like Venus wanted this match more.”

It was, in retrospect, a retro day for women’s tennis. The clocks were turned back five years to when the Williams sisters dominated the game, bringing it to a new level of athleticism.

Looking for some context?

In 2003, there was fear and loathing across the United States as gas prices rose beyond … $1.40 a gallon. That was the same year President George Bush declared that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, and the U.S. invaded in March.

Since then, the sisters have suffered various injuries and, over the years, become increasingly drawn to the world of fashion and the cult of their own celebrities. There were times when they seemed bored. Maybe all those distractions kept tennis fresh, for here they were in the Wimbledon final — not retired Belgians Justin Henin and Kim Clijsters, not reigning Australian Open champion Maria Sharapova, not freshly minted French Open champion Ana Ivanovic.

The general consensus around the grounds hoped that Venus could master her inclination to give in to Serena, but that the younger sister — tougher and more competitive — would win.

Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Despite the loss, Serena Williams had more winners and fewer unforced errors than Venus.
Sure enough, Venus lost 10 of the match’s first 11 points, including a break of her opening service game. Gradually, though, Venus found an equilibrium and broke back to level the set at four games apiece. With Serena serving to force a tiebreaker, she dropped a backhand into the net on break point, then slammed her racket to the ground.
This was significant, because in 14 of the previous 15 matches between the sisters, the winner of the first set won the match.

Throughout the match, Venus stuck stubbornly — defiantly? — to her strategy. She received Serena’s booming serve a foot inside the baseline and paid a price, as nine aces whistled past her. Venus also served into Serena’s body 28 percent of the time, with great success.

“Body is my favorite here,” Venus said. “You can’t defend it.”

Said Serena, “I think that was her tactic. I’m glad she did it, because next time I know what to expect.”

Venus’ relentless defense forced Serena to hit an extra ball or two, and when she moved forward, she won 15 of 18 points at the net. Serena was only 9-for-15.

For the conspiracy theorists, any questions about a predetermined result were answered in the third game. As Venus came loping to the net, Serena aimed a thundering backhand right at her gut. Venus, hands quickened by a deep doubles run, knocked off a reflex backhand volley that dropped for a winner. In the last game of the first set, the roles were reversed as Venus cracked a backhand at Serena, who had come to the net. Serena dropped down a backhand volley winner.

So to review, seven of the past nine titles here have been lifted by a Williams. Serena’s Grand Slam singles title lead over Venus has now narrowed to 8-7. The sisters have won three of the seven Grand Slams contested over the past two calendar years and the only player with two over that span (Henin) is no longer playing.

They are still happy, healthy and, because they do not play heavy schedules, hungry to compete for majors. With all due respect to Sharapova and Ivanovic, it is not a stretch to imagine them playing for the U.S. Open title a few months from now.

Are the Williams sisters experiencing a renaissance?

“I would love that,” Venus said. “The goal is to stay healthy, so that way we can play singles and doubles and have a lot of fun with it.”

Now Vogue UK wants to get into the messy makeup act, too, giving us instructions on "how to do Stam's 'starlet - post tearful tantrum' look" as illustrated at left.

For the record, we've never seen or heard Jessica Stam throw a tantrum, but she looks awfully convincing as a girl seething glitter at left.

Vogue UK is awfully stoked to smear their makeup this summer, and it's leading us to think there might be a general and very silly trend going forward:

Has fashion become so accessible that in order to truly seem "in," you have to violate it in the most against-your-instinct ways? Like never washing / brushing your hair, chipping your nails, smearing your eyes... really?

It's an interesting trend to discuss, and an interesting theory to volley, but we won't examine it too much because frankly, our specialty is looking low maintenance. If being messy right now means being fashionable, then we might finally have a shot at that Vogue Best Dressed List... cough, Alexandra Kotur, cough!

Trophy watch: Three-time French Open champion (and TSF fave) Guga Kuerten bid adieu to the red clay of Roland Garros for the final time, accepting a wild card that his body couldn’t back up. He lost to Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. And when it was all over, they awarded Guga with a cross-section of the court that propelled him to the upper echelons of tennis.

As a good luck charm, Guga wore the same Diadora kit as when he won his first French Open title in 1997. That title was the first of 20 that he would eventually rack up in his 13-year career.

Take that, Roger Federer!

Here are a few more pictures, plus a link to Chris Clarey’s NYT write-up of the match — all after the cut…

Kuerten, a Three-Time French Open Champion, Bids Adieu

By Christopher Clarey
New York Times
May 26, 2008

PARIS — Those searching for a last glimpse of vintage Gustavo Kuerten did not leave entirely unsatisfied on the first day of the French Open.

When he shuffled onto center court Sunday with his familiar, disjointed amble, Kuerten was wearing the same canary yellow and blue colors he wore when he emerged from just about nowhere in 1997 to win his first tour title of any sort at Roland Garros. This time, he was beginning his farewell tournament with a match against Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Once he and Mathieu took to the clay in earnest, there was the low moan that Kuerten has always emitted as he swings through serves and ground strokes. There was the same bobble-headed fashion of patrolling the baseline between points, and even the occasional elastic one-handed backhand that soared down the line like an improbably guided missile for a winner.

But the bittersweet truth was that the essential was still missing, just as it has been for the nearly five seasons since Kuerten’s fragile hip began making tennis more pain than pleasure. It has been a cruel twist for someone who made his name and fan base by providing a surplus of good vibrations to his public.

He still had some stirring moments in his 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 loss to Mathieu. Kuerten, who finished the 2000 season as the top-ranked player in the world and spent most of 2001 at No. 1, is now ranked 1,141st. But he hardly embarrassed himself against Mathieu, playing much better than he had in the earlier stops on his farewell tour in Miami and Monte Carlo.

But this encounter, which Kuerten insisted was the last of his career in singles, never quite turned the corner from feeling like an exhibition to feeling like a Grand Slam match.

“Of course it wasn’t easy, because I sensed that I was going to win, so it was tough to stay concentrated,” Mathieu, the 18th seed, said. “You start imagining the end. But I think he played a few beautiful points, so I hope he was happy.”

Kuerten, a Brazilian, won the French Open in 1997, 2000 and 2001. But he has not been a threat to win since 2004, when he knocked off Roger Federer before reaching the quarterfinals. His only reason for requesting a wild card at age 31, he said, was that he wanted the luxury of “one more little pleasure.”

Did he get what he came for, despite the tears that he shed after his last backhand, a drop shot, had hit the net?

“I think I’m very satisfied, especially with the memories that are going to stick with me from this match,” Kuerten said. “I thought I played much better than I expected, and there wasn’t a single shot I didn’t make. I played forehand, backhands, serve, drop shots, volley. I did everything I think I was able to do in the past, just not with the same frequency. But at least I had the feeling to do it once more.”

In Kuerten’s glory years, the French Open did not start on Sundays. In this year’s edition, 32 matches were played Sunday, with only the occasional upset. The qualifier Eduardo Schwank defeated Carlos Moyà, the No. 16 seed who won the 1998 French Open, 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-7 (1), 4-6, 6-3.

In the women’s draw, second-seeded Ana Ivanovic and No. 5 Serena Williams advanced in straight sets. Williams defeated Ashley Harkleroad, 6-2, 6-1, but tennis has not been Harkleroad’s primary concern of late. During the Sony Ericcson Open in Miami in March, she was rushed to the hospital after losing her third-round match. A cyst on her right ovary had ruptured, causing internal bleeding; the ovary was removed, and she was hospitalized for four days.

“I was pretty depressed for like three weeks,” she said. “I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to have kids and this and that. But I’m going to be able to, so it’s going to be all good.”

The men’s No. 3 seed, Novak Djokovic, lost his opening set against Denis Gremelmayr before taking control in a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 victory. No. 7 James Blake defeated Rainer Schüttler, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (3). Blake, ranked eighth in the world, is the top men’s player from the United States at this tournament after Andy Roddick withdrew last week because of an injured right shoulder.

That already makes this a better French Open than last year for the American men, who failed to win a singles match.

“We set the bar low enough that we’re over the bar by 3 on Sunday afternoon,” Blake said. “We all feel like last year was an aberration that should never happen again.”

Kuerten no longer needs to strive for tennis improvement. But he had pushed himself particularly hard in the weeks leading to Roland Garros, training with his longtime coach Larri Passos. On Sunday, he served convincingly and hit a world-class backhand. But winning a set proved too much. His lateral movement was not what it used to be, and neither was his consistency.

But Kuerten said that he would not remember the errors, but he would remember the atmosphere — the standing ovation he received as he walked on the court, the Brazilian flags being waved, the frequent chants of his nickname, Guga, that greeted his winners and even his struggles.

“This particular tournament is really like home for me,” he said.

Afterward, it was time for the tears, time to receive a final trophy, in the form of a cross section of a clay court.

Not many first-round losers receive a prize, but then not many players burst into the light by winning their first Grand Slam title when they are ranked 66th in the world, then make the precipitous climb to the top.

“One stage of my career was very successful, and I was able to get all the goals that I could, then the second part was really tough,” Kuerten said. “But in the same way, it was important to live these years, to grow as a person, to understand what it is to have other things to deal with. So I guess, like that, for me there’s no regrets at all, just big knowledge.”

(photos by Getty Images)