I mean, most already consider him as the second best player to ever pick up a racket allowing him easy passage past both Borg and Sampras even though he is yet to pass them statistically on the Slam pole.
Besides, don't you look far more impressive having a massively lopsided H2H against someone considered to be the best tennis player ever - WITHOUT matching his Slam total? You OWN the top cat. By matching his Slam total don't you risk losing MAJOR sparkle from that feat? Because then you are just his 'equal' - with a better H2H record. That limits the juice from the dynamic - significantly.
Additionally, there are just way TOO MANY outstanding posts in the field that will NOT have been even grazed enroute No. 17 that the best Nadal can expect to be is 1(b). He can NEVER be the undisputed GOAT. Passing 17, however, may provoke something but that seems near-impossible today.
You CANNOT be the undisputed GOAT or even a 1(a) solely based on your H2H against the undisputed 1(a). That's without even inserting all the other VITAL stats like weeks @ No. 1 - total and consecutive, year-end No. 1, WTF titles, four or more titles @ other Slams, the repertoire of shots etc. forget about trivial stuff like the Slam semifinal streak and others. Add that and you are a distant 1(b) at best - with matching Slam total.
So it's all about moving from No. 2 to a distant 1(b) with a price tag way too expensive (and possibly fatal) for that 'minor' shift.
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