by plash.ricrem on Wed Aug 26, 2009 1:24 am
CCN caught up to Plash Ricrem following his second round exit at Wimbledon at the hands of #2 seed Dbandit. Ricrem was sipping a Guinness at the Laughing Lion, but appeared not to be in much of a jovial mood as we sat down for a quick chat.
CCN: Thoughts on yet another early exit in a major?
PR: Disheartening. This year its largely felt like I've taken 1 step forward and two steps back in nearly every tourney. I was pumped following my highly contested first round victory over danryan, but it seemed like everything that could go wrong did against Bandit.
CCN: Do you think the marathon nature of your first round match (winning 13 and 19 round matches) may have had an affect?
PR: I wouldn't be surprised. In the first set, I tried to come out aggressive, to prove to him that I wasn't scared of playing the #2 seed and at first I thought things were going great the first couple service games (picked up a +3 bonus round 2) but suddenly my legs got weak, and I lost my service (lost the first 8 throws of that turn allowing him to keep a +2 bonus.) Even when I turned my serve up a notch (mixed set to get back into it) I was double faulting all over the place (lost first 12 throws of that turn). The first set was just a mess.
CCN: But the 2nd?
PR: Well I knew my legs were weak and that I was doomed if we were going to go to a 3rd (Bandit won that won simultaneously in 9 rounds as I fell victim to more atrocious dice.) but I was hoping I could at least make a solid effort of it. It looked like I was going to be swept off the court, but suddenly my fortunes changed (Bandit had an 0- turn trying to break a +5 bonus that should have ended my hopes of victory.) The next thing I know, we're in the type of grind it out match I prefer, and I was able to pull it out.
CCN: Any last remarks?
PR: Well there certainly is a reason Dbandit is ranked 2 in the money list, and I wish him nothing but success the rest of Wimbledon. He was a true professional and very kind given the fact he was largely wiping my butt all over the court. I've just got to keep practicing and hope that I can put a streak together to make the top 12, it's a bit unnerving living on the edge as far as earnings go. I mean sure the 35k I've made here was nice, but it'll probably barely be enough to keep up with the Ga7's of the world.