tween about the won TheNesTM Cup: The whole hit parade of emotions

 Hi tween, congratulations on the great ride at The Nest, what are your feelings after finally winning the title? Are you happy that you got rid of the title of the “always second one” as the commentators called you?
I have a real feeling of satisfaction. Since my opponent in the finale also had a reputation of always the second one (in online tournaments), we joked before the game that we have to drive an endless tennis mode to avoid a black hole. And indeed sometimes the match somehow happened in cycles.

 What do you think about the tournament and its format? Did you like it or do you prefer the classical one?
A nice thing about Trackmania is that there is a lot of room for experiments. However, this is especially true at online events because who wants to travel across the globe to some kind of “lol” tournament where anything can happen. Then Hakki and Kubayz came with an idea to spice that standard format a bit and I think they succeeded with flying colours. They did not make it completely “lol” while offering a unique challenge. It also contributed to the “garden party” atmosphere of the event. On the other hand, I cannot wait to play the classical one.

 How did the foreign players evaluate the system and the whole tournament? I am sure you talked at least a bit about it.
I think that all the feedback I heard was significantly positive. I am most pleased that even those who dropped out in the very first round didn’t lose their enthusiasm and fully enjoyed the event. Some people even enthusiastically planned to go to the tournament #2. However, there were some ideas how to make it better and more interesting and the organisers mostly agreed.

 Can you describe us your way through the tournament? Who was your toughest opponent and who was easy to beat?
My first match was against Marius89 who could have easily beaten me especially when we had only 15 minutes on training maps. I managed to beat him surprisingly easy. He told me that I chose the right map against him. Then it was the British player Jonno who had managed to beat the Norwegian killer Bergie in the first round but somehow didn’t repeat his performance and it was 2-0 for me. Then it became quite hard because I got the German Massa from the Euronics team in the semi-finals. I knew he would be very fast and it would be necessary to utilize his mistakes and not to try to beat his good laps. I managed this on one of his trails and along with two laps on my favourite map (which he admitted he hadn’t event trained on) it finished 3-2 in my favour. The finale has to be seen, I have no comment.

 The finale, especially the last lap was an incredible drama! What was going on in your head when you crashed right before the finish? Or did you know that your opponent also crashed, moreover, paradoxically, at the exactly same spot?
Mainly a frustration that I had a decent chance to finally confirm the first place and I put there a stop. I had no idea that Shorty crashed, I heard people shouting a bit but I thought that it was because of my failure. I finished the lap just out of inertia and at the checkpoint before finish I noticed that I somehow miraculously lead by 14 hundredths. Then I thought that he would be for sure faster than me at the home stretch because I crawled to the finish in a really snail pace. And again it did not happen. Well it was the whole hit parade of emotions within five seconds. 

 Was it the sweetest victory? Do you want to repeat it also at ESWC? And what do you want to say to your fans?
Definitely. I strongly felt the support of the domestic environment which was quite refreshing for me (not like playing against French players in Paris). I would like to thank fans for all their support and nice words at Twitch chat. Hopefully I can repay with a quality performance at ESWC where I will go with full strength.