Rafael Nadal defeated Kevin Anderson in the final, 6–3, 6–3, 6–4.[1]
It was his third US Open title and 16th major title overall. It was also his first hard court title since January 2014.
Stan Wawrinka was the defending champion, but was unable to defend the title due to a knee injury that ended his season prematurely. Wawrinka's withdrawal ended his streak of 50 consecutive Grand Slam appearances, dating back to the 2005 French Open.[2] Defending finalist, Novak Djokovic, also withdrew due to an elbow injury that ended his season, ending his streak of 51 consecutive Grand Slam appearances, dating back to the 2005 Australian Open.[3] Accordingly, this was the first men's singles draw at the US Open since 1971 to include neither finalist from the previous year's tournament.
After the loss of Marin Čilić in the third round, there was a guaranteed first time Grand Slam finalist in the bottom half of the draw. Anderson was the first South African man to reach the final since Cliff Drysdale at the 1965 and any Grand Slam singles final since Kevin Curren at the 1984 Australian Open, as well as the lowest-ranked male player to reach the US Open singles final since the ATP rankings began in 1973.[4][5] Anderson was also the tallest Grand Slam finalist in history, at 6 feet 8 inches.[6]
Federer broke the men's singles record for total appearances at Grand Slams with his 71st participation. Also, Andrey Rublev became the youngest man to reach the US Open quarterfinals since Andy Roddick in 2001, and Denis Shapovalov the youngest man to reach the fourth round of the US Open since Michael Chang in 1989.[7]Sam Querrey also became the first American man to reach the quarterfinals of the US Open since John Isner and Andy Roddick in 2011. Also, Pablo Carreño Busta made his first major semifinal appearance, becoming the first Spanish semifinalist since David Ferrer in 2012 other than Nadal.
Diego Schwartzman became the shortest man (5'7") to reach a Grand Slam singles quarterfinal since Jaime Yzaga (also 5'7") did so at the 1994 US Open. He lost to Carreño Busta in the quarterfinals.