Well the two are obviously related. You don't won't loads of slams without spending time as #1. But I would say slams. Anyway Fed has both records in his resume so he is the GOAT. Both are important.
Rios won several masters in addition to this #1. Gaudio only reached one TMS final so he didn't back his success up, Rios did.
IMO weeks at #1 only comes into play if two players have very identical careers (slams, masters wins)
For example Roddick and Murray's careers are pretty much dead even, yet I think at this stage it's R-Andy who has the slight edge due to his #1 ranking. But if M-Andy gets even 1 week at the summit, he will pass him straight away.
For Open Era players, I counted their YE #1 as if they had been #1 that whole calendar year, and then in parenthesis, their actual weeks according to the computer.
Well, we're not talking about the debate of who is the greater player: A slam winner or a #1 ranked player. We are talking about what makes a GOAT, and surely you cannot be the greatest of all time if you cannot be the greatest in your era, it's an inconceivable idea. No greatest of all time would spend record weeks at no. 2 or no. 3.
At this moment in time its the no1 ranking that is harder to obtain. Delpo won a slam he's no where near no 1 and guys like Berdych, Tsonga, Soderling have been far closer to winning a slam than getting anywhere near no1.
Rios stayed into the rankings 5 weeks longer than Rafter without winning any major.
IMO there is no such thing as a fluke. Rios had a very consistent 1998, during a Sampras Era. No majors won indeed, but there are 3 Masters and the Grand Slam Cup. He was number 1 twice during that year. There are many factors to why this could have happened. Points balance, adversaries and especially game consistency are amongst them.
Regarding the OQ, I say that both are the dream of every tennis player out there. When Rios became number 1, nobody in Chile cared about any GS and took to the streets. When Na Li won the French Open, all China partied. When Murray won the US Open this whole forum was talking about it. One without the other seems to be incomplete, as people here mention Rios as a fluke. Chang never got to number 1 despite winning a Grand Slam and not so many people care about him anymore.
Who would you say was better: Chang with 1 Slam or Rafter with 1 week as No.1 ? Answer this question and the OQ is also answered.
EDIT: Also to add, cause I forgot.
Winning one Grand Slam = Top form for a shorter time period.
Getting to number 1 = Consistent form for a longer time period.
Bjorkman will play in Wimbledon semi in 4 years after that tournament, he was still decent player. And it only shows what a great grass court player Lleyton was.
don't see how this ended up discussing stuff like Bjorkman. But you see Bjorman won 9 slams and was nr1..........in doubles! He was quite the player.
For the topic: In men's tennis it usually goes hand in hand anyway. Federer, Sampras both spent a huge amount of weeks as nr1 as they collected slams.
A 14-15 slam winner that hasn't spent 200+ weeks as nr would feel very wrong. Maybe Nadal can become one as he spent so much time as nr2. But Nadal's resume has bigger holes than that so probably nothing that keeps Rafito awake at night.
Slams is what media and casuals focus most on so guess it's most important. Only the true tennis fans really care about time spent at #1. Many casual fans don't even understand the ranking system in the first place and the concept of defending points and so forth.
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