Would Graf still have her 4 wins at each of the 4 slams without stabbing

[rickyvaldez]

Graf's main GOAT claim is her record of winning each slam atleast 4 times. Would she still have this record without the Seles stabbing. This is the breakdown of what she would have needed to do to attain it:

Australian Open- Had 3 before the stabbing. Would have needed only 1 more. Most likely would have had to be 1994 which she did win, since she either didnt play or never came close due to injuries any future years.

French Open- Had 2 at the time of the stabbing. Would have needed 2 more total from 1993 to 1999, a period with the Seles stabbing she managed 4.

Wimbledon- Already had 4 at the time of the stabbing, and Seles is irrelevant to Graf's success here anyway.

U.S Open- Had 2 at the time of the stabbing. Would have needed to win 2 of the 4 from 1993 to 1996. As it was she won 3 of the 4 with the Seles stabbing.

So would she have managed the 4 for 4 record without the stabbing or not.

 

[AngieB]

It appears Ricky Bobby has an axe to grind.

AngieB

 

[BTURNER]

Being as her competition for GOAT, Court, Evert, Navatilova, all had dances with fate/luck that contributed to several of their records in both direct and indirect ways, its immaterial. She won the majors playing better than anyone who played those majors. Don't give a crap why others did not play.

 

[scootad.]

I think she would have fallen short by 1- probably at the French Open. Possibly would have fallen short by 2 - 1 at French and 1 at US Open.

 

[totaleclipseoftheheart]

No. If Monica did not get stabbed:

1. Conchita wouldn't have won 1994 Wimbledon. Plain and simple.
2. Arantxa wouldn't have won any GS between 1993 - 1995. Plain and simple.
3. Steffi wouldn't have won any GS between 1993 -1995 except Wimbledon. Plain and simple.

 

[rosewallGOAT]

Most likely yes. I suspect her final figures would have been:

4 Australian Opens, 4 French Opens, 7 or 8 Wimbledons, 4 or 5 U.S Opens. So about 20 slams, but not the inflated 22 she has now and is falsely credited for.

She still would have her 4-for-4 record but with 2 or 3 fewer slams Serena would have an easier path to break her slam mark, but QueenRena will likely do so anyway, and it could be a blessing and the incentive of Graf's inflated slam mark could push her past Court even bigger joke of a mark (due to the farcealian Open for women of the 60s) too.

I do believe Steffi Graf will probably always be the greatest all surface female tennis player ever, but QueenRena will still surpass her current status as GOAT despite that.


Anyone wanting a further breakdown of how I arrived at those numbers:

Australian Open- She only played it once more and I believe Seles is the superior player on that surface, but as the 1994 Australian Open was one of Graf's best tournaments ever I still believe she would have won that one. Graf either never played or played poorly at all future Australians so Seles ironically had little impact on Graf here.

French Open- Graf won her last of 4 future Frenchs would took her to 6 total in 1999. Lets say from 1993-1999 Seles won another 4 French Opens and a whopping 7 total. Even if that happened Graf would probably have won 2 of the remaining 3 and gotten to 4.

Wimbledon- Obviously Seles has no impact here, other than maybe Graf doesnt draw McNeil 1st round 94 anymore and might gain another.

U.S Open- I believe Graf has the edge on any faster court. She has never lost to Seles on anything but clay or a slow hard court, even pre stabbing. There were 4 U.S Opens before the new guard took over here, 3 of which Graf won. Even if Seles and Graf both won 2, which seems generous to Seles to me, Graf would have reached 4 total here. Possibly Graf still might have won 3 of the 4 or even all 4 (despite winning only 3 with Seles away) as she lost the 94 final completely due to a back injury vs Sanchez Vicario, and vs Seles there would be less long rallies with both hitting quick winners so much better considering her injury.

In any case I would be surprised if she didnt win 4 of each, but she still might have had fewer than 22 slams total, and an easier mark for QueenRena to beat.