The Baseline Player(s) of the Week: Daniil Medvedev and Emma Raducanu

Heading into this year's final major, fans were wondering what the event might look like without Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Serena Williams. Many thought the appeal of the major event would be lost, but the opposite happened. The 2021 US Open will go down in history as one of the most memorable Grand Slams due to its stunning and unexpected storylines.

In fact, both champions accomplished so much that it would be impossible to favor one over the other for Player of the Week; so we didn’t.

US Open No. 2 seed, Daniil Medvedev seamlessly beat Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to capture his first Slam and Emma Raducanu took down Leylah Fernandez to become the first qualifier in the history of the sport to claim a major title.

First, the Brit completed one of the most dominant runs in Grand Slam history. The 18-year-old won all 10 rounds of the US Open – including qualifiers – without dropping a single set. It was just her second Grand Slam appearance and her name has already gone down in the history books.

On the men’s side, the Russian also etched his name in history, but in a different way. While Medvedev did confidently earn his first Grand Slam title – previously reaching the US Open final in 2019 and the Australian Open final this year – he also stopped Djokovic from earning the calendar Grand Slam. It would have made the Serbian only the third man to achieve the feat and the first since Rod Laver in 1969.

Raducanu jumped 127 ranking spots to world No. 23 while Medvedev will stay at world No. 2.