Novak Djokovic dominated men's tennis once again, and Emma Raducanu exploded onto the scene on the women's side at the U.S. Open, but tennis finished 2021 in a standoff with China over the safety of former doubles No. 1 Peng Shuai.
Djokovic started the year by winning a record ninth Australian Open title and the Serbian was standing on the verge of history in the final of the U.S. Open, the fourth and last major of the year. A title at Arthur Ashe Stadium would have made Djokovic the first man to win all four majors in a calendar year since Rod Laver in 1969, and would have also broken the three-way tie for the most men's Grand Slam titles in history. Dkojovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal each have 20.
Russian Daniil Medvedev created a little bit of history of his own, however, when he clinched his first Grand Slam title by demolishing Djokovic in straight sets to win the U.S. Open crown.