ZywOo: "It's not because we won the Grand Slam and Melbourne that everything is done for the Major"

"A weight has been lifted from our shoulders," the French superstar shared.

The stakes were high for Vitality entering IEM Melbourne, as the international superteam were just one event win away from becoming the fifth team to capture the coveted ESL Grand Slam. Furthermore, the team's 16-match win streak put Vitality on the verge of eclipsing Astralis's record of 17 consecutive victories.

Vitality ultimately dominated the majority of their matches in IEM Melbourne, facing their first real challenge only in the grand final in their second meeting with Falcons.

After an arduous best-of-five that culminated in Vitality winning the final map in triple overtime following a 6-12 deficit, Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire's men finally laid claim to the Grand Slam, and extended their win streak to the third-longest in Counter-Strike history.

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Vitality become fifth ESL Grand Slam winners

"I won't say we didn't believe, but the chances of winning the last map were really small, and we did it," tournament MVP Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut shared with HLTV following his team's monumental Melbourne win.

"We need to keep grinding and we need to keep going to show a great game because we are the best team right now. If we don't show that for the Major, we're going to get fucked," he added.

"Even though we are tired, we need to give our best every single time. So we're going to do that."

Read more in the interview below, or listen to it on Spotify.

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Fourth trophy of the year for Vitality and fourth MVP of the year for you, with a Grand Slam on top. How does it feel?

It's an amazing feeling. I don't know what to say right now because there are a lot of emotions, but the last game was rough. I won't say we didn't believe, but the chances of winning the last map were really small, and we did it. That's why we were really happy when we won. And I think it's also a good way to win the best-of-five and the Grand Slam. I'm freaking happy with the team. Right now, I'm just releasing everything, the stress, everything, because I'm freaking happy.

It looked pretty bleak when you found yourselves down 12-6 on Nuke after that clutch from kyxsan against ropz. You had one FAMAS and one Scout heading into the next round. What did apEX say to the team to make sure you stayed focused and that you kept believing that it would be possible to make a comeback?

To be honest, I don't think apEX said anything special.  I think the five of us were in sync, even though we were 12-6 down. Sometimes in a game, you can feel you can win it or come back, and this was the moment. We had slow starts on Mirage and Nuke but after that, we could feel we were playing better together. Even though the eco was a bit rough, there are some situations when we are talking more, we are making more decisions, and we are playing more together. And this is why you can feel you can come back into the game.

If you ask apEX, he will say he made a lot of mistakes. He did a lot of things but it was harder because he was maybe not into the game. But the rest of us tried to do our best and we tried to put in the effort to win the game. I would say all the players were good in this final.

Winning the Grand Slam was one of your goals for the season. Now that you've done it, do you think that a weight has been lifted from your shoulders?

Of course, a weight has been lifted from our shoulders, but it's also a good sign for the rest of the year. Now we need to focus on the Major and we're going to do everything for that. We showed a good face, and we need to keep going. It's not because we won the Grand Slam and Melbourne that everything is done for the Major. We need to keep grinding and we need to keep going to show a great game because we are the best team right now. If we don't show that for the Major, we're going to get fucked. So we need to keep going in the same way.

 Back in Lisbon, you had close games against Spirit and MOUZ, and here you had a very close series against Falcons, who only had a few days to practice with m0NESY. Would you say that the gap is closing in a way, that other teams are stepping up to your level and that it'll be harder and harder for you to be the number one team in the world?

It's always been like this. The gap has always been close. I think Falcons have a really great team now. With m0NESY joining the squad, I think it's really hard… With degster, it was kind of easy to read. Now, m0NESY is kind of moving everywhere with NiKo calling as CT, so it's kind of hard to predict what they're going to do every round. That's why it's really hard.

But like we said before, MOUZ, Spirit or whoever, we need to give 100% or they're going to beat us. We need to give 100% every time. We cannot give them any chances because they are going to take them. We have to keep going in this way.

After you got the MVP in Lisbon, you told me you wanted this to be your best year in terms of MVP medals. At the same time, you are now only four medals away from matching s1mple's record for most MVPs won in a single year. Is that something you think about? Do you think it is possible? Because we're not even halfway through the year and you've already got four.

Actually, I don't even know how many he got [in a year].

It was eight.

Eight? I didn't even know it. I don't care how many I get in one year. I'm just doing my job, I'm just doing my things, and I don't care about other people. I just want to break my record. That's the only thing I want.

Four trophies, including Katowice, and an Intel Grand Slam. It's also 21 victories in a row. Do you think this lineup has the potential to be one of the best of all time?

I think so. If you keep going, if you keep grinding, if you keep playing like we do, if you keep believing. That's why I think we can be one of the best, but we need to put in the work. We cannot take a step back because people will watch us and will really want to beat us. So every day, every tournament, we will need to give our best. Even though we are tired, we need to give our best every single time. So we're going to do that.