Is there anybody else on the thinking planet that possibly believes this an sees the logic? If so, please explain it to me.
What??? We're going to now count "would have" and "is only X short" when we're considering GOATness?
First off, do some homework. It isn't "4 in a row". It is the calendar grand slam. Holding of all titles in a single year. Secondly, Laver didn't do it once, but TWICE. Third, he did it separated by seven years.
Fourth (and what people don't realize), in the Professional league he did it AGAIN in 1967. He won the US Pro, French Pro, Wembley Pro, and Wimbledon Pro. In two of those finals he beat Rosewall.
I'm not saying that Federer's 237 is not impressive. It certainly is. But there is no way that it comes close to Laver's accomplishment.
My response was to counter a post that mentioned Conners would have had 244 straight weeks at #1 and only missed 1 week from doing it BTW.
So I brought up another 'what if'.
But since it was brought up:
People have come closer to CYGS than to 237 weeks in a row.
One area about a records strength is how close people have come to beating it.
Several have come down to one tournament to get 4 in a row.
Only one to 237 weeks at #1, Conners was close it was said beforehand, I'll take it as correct. If not correct then nobody.
Laver's slam record being matched was dependent on whether Nadal made the final of the french open most probably. 2 times this happened.
Nadal is the best on clay so Laver was lucky here, twice.
Conners missed 1974 french open, close.
A few close calls for Laver.
One only shows a hot streak for a year and is four tournaments, the other takes close to five years, any slipup for any reason in those five years it's over or players close to #1 ranking getting hot and it's over. Injury could also end it.
There's no special significance to winning four in a row in one year, could be winning four in a row at any other time is better.
The shortest amount of time being at peak level to win four slams in a row is the CYGS, all other slams in a row takes a year discounting when they changed the AO date. This is up for debate I'm sure.
So I'll go against the grain and take the 237 weeks at #1 as the record most difficult to beat.