Let’s take a look at the Men’s Draw for the upcoming US Open,who will play who and at one point the potential blockbusters will happen

Top Half

The Man to beat and 1st seed is  Novak Djokovic

The Serb’s preparation to win another crown in New York for the first time since 2011 went well, not perfect for his lofty standards. Losing two finals in a row to Andy Murray (in Canada) and Roger Federer (in Cincinnati) may not look that good, but from his previous 3 Grand Slam tournaments he has lost only 1 final – to Stan Wawrinka in Roland Garros.

Best of 5 is whole different animal and he is quite dominant and up to the challenge in those prolonged 2 week battles. Losing in the Semis last year to Kei Nishikori should give him plenty of motivation as well to prove himself again and win that title that has been slipping through his fingers for 3 years now…

“Well, it’s sport,” Djokovic told reporters last Sunday after losing to Federer in the Cincinnati final. “You can’t win all the time. I won many matches this year. Could have done some things better, but I lost to a better player, no question about it.
“I have to deal with it. U.S. Open is around the corner, and I have to turn the next page. Hopefully, I can do well there.”

“Barring something crazy and unforeseen — like Kevin Anderson serving out of his mind for two sets at Wimbledon — Djoker’s the favorite for the U.S. Open,” Brad Gilbert said. If he’s on his game, he’s unbeatable.”

He starts against Joao Souza of Brazil with possible interesting bout against Vasek Pospisil in the 2nd round. The 45-th ranked young Canadian who is a huge talent could push the Serb, but his physical condition is something he needs to work a lot more, as he is often out of sorts in long best of 3 battles nevermind if It goes a distance. Andreas Seppi is the seed Novak would face in R3 with the winner of Bautista Agut/Goffin clash as a projected 4-th round opponent.

In his last event of his career American Mardy Fish faces Marco Cecchinato of Italy, who hasn’t won a MD GS match. Feliciano Lopez will face the winner of this clash.

The Draw would become even more interesting with the winner of Milos Raonic/Rafael Nadal as potential QF opponent for the World No.1. Milos has yet to win since Wimbledon. Even home tournament in Toronto Masters didn’t help him as he dropped 2 tiebreak sets to Ivo Karlovic, followed by defeat by Feliciano Lopez in Cincinnati R1 a week later.

The Montenegro born Canadian hasn’t been further than R4 in Flushing Meadows. He would probably have to go through Rafael Nadal in order to go 1 step more that he has ever been before.

Nadal, seeded just 8-th at this year’s US Open didn’t went beyond the QF in two hard court events played as a tune-up for New York.

“I feel great physically, and that’s important for me because that’s giving me the confidence in my body that’s always been very important (for) the intensity of my movements,” Nadal said. “If I’m healthy and I have the chance to keep working the way I’m working now, I believe that I can keep competing well for the next couple of years and keep having chances in the big events.”

“I will be arrogant if I say I feel ready for the title now after not having a great season,” he said. “I don’t want to say that. I say I am working hard every day. I know I am playing better and I am feeling better mentally than a few months ago.
“Then [I] need results. I feel closer than ever during the season to be where I want to be. So let’s be patient. Let’s keep working with that goal and with that intensity, and I hope that helps and works in a not very long period of time.”
A Quarter Final between Djokovic and Nadal will be what every tennis fan wants to see. With Nadal leading the h2h 23-21, no matter at what place in the rankings, or current form, the Spaniard is always a threat.

2nd part of the top half offers No.4 seed and last year’s finalist Kei Nishikori and 7-th seed David Ferrer as projected QF matchup. David Ferrer is returning here from elbow injury that forced him to miss all of the summer hard court tournaments and he has no match play. Will be more than interesting to see where he currently stands with his form. Most Likely Ferrer would have to deal with the winner of two disappointments so far this season – defending US Open Champion Marin Cilic and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.

This part of the draw has so many mysteries to be solved as neither has look solid in recent months, either is dip in form or just out with injury a QF birth would be welcomed with open arms.
With a title in Washington and Semi in Toronto, Kei Nishikori withdraw from Cincinnati with hip problem.

“My hip was bothering me, so I couldn’t really play and could barely finish the match,” the 25-year-old said, after losing to Andy Murray in Canada with 3-6,0-6. “But I had two good tournaments so I’m very happy with my tennis.”
“I think I’m more tired,” said Nishikori, when asked if there was a specific injury. “Everything was sore these couple of days. It got a little bit worse, so I couldn’t really move 100 percent. Especially after the first set, I was feeling it more and more. Definitely wasn’t good day for my body.”

If he is fit he should take care of Tommy Robredo, the first seed he could face in R3 and also the winner of the all French battle between Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfired Tsonga.

Bottom Half

Roger Federer who got back the 2nd ranking, just a week after he was overtaken by Andy Murray, ended on the same side of the draw with a potential Semi-final bout.

The Swiss will be looking for first GS title since Wimbledon 2012. Taking a wise decision to skip Rogers Cup in Canada, he was rejuvenated and took Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic in consecutive matches to take his 7-th Cincinnati title. His serve wasn’t broken in duration of the whole tournament and faced breakpoints only vs Feliciano Lopez.

“Now I’ve got the confidence, I’ve got the matches, and I’m actually still feeling really fresh even after this week, because the matches have been rather short,” Federer said, after defeating Djokovic in the Final in Cincinnati. “I think I moved well. I was explosive moving forward. Volleys were good. I think from the baseline I was hitting my forehand very well.”

“I tried to really mix it up on his second serve and I was hoping to serve good enough myself to keep me out of trouble,” Federer added during an interview with ESPN following the match. “He had that one bad game at the beginning of the second set, which made the difference in the match.

“I’ve seen Novak adapt to my play over the years and he’s also improved a lot. His movement and his backhand and forehand are always so solid. There aren’t many errors coming out of his forehand wing now. Our rivalry has definitely evolved.”

Roger will possibly face 29-th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber as his first seeded test and then the winner of the serve behemoths Karlovic or Isner. Gasquet has Aussie’s young gun Thanasi Kokkinakis as R1 opponent with Tomic a R3 foe. Lleyton Hewitt who plays his last US Open of his career is here in the mix as well starting off with Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan. They’ve already played 1 time this year, in a Davis Cup tie in Darwin on Grass, a 3-0 win for Rusty.

6-th seed Thomas Berdych, who could face Federer in the QF is having a tough time and has won only 2 matches since Wimbeldon. SF in 2012 and QF last year in New York, he has the power and the game to trouble the best when he is on. He has looked hopeless most of the time since taking a break after Wimbledon and tied the knot. He has a favourable draw to begin building his game up, starting with Fratangelo and 3rd round slated seed in face of Guilermo Garcia Lopez.

The First part of the bottom half of the draw sees Andy Murray and Roland Garros Champion Stan Wawrinka as projected Quarterfinalists.

The Scot is in sensational form heading into the championships, having defeated world No.1 Novak Djokovic for the first time in two years to claim the Rogers Cup earlier this month.

2012 US Open champion, who also won the US Open Series title in 2010, will attempt to set a record for the largest payout in tennis history at the US Open – $4.3 million ($3.3 million for winning the US Open and a $1 million bonus for winning the US Open as Emirates Airline US Open Series champion). Serena Williams (2014), Rafael Nadal (2013), Roger Federer (2007) and Kim Clijsters (2005) are the other players accomplishing this double, since those series were introduced to the world in 2004.

Kyrgios caused controversy at this year’s Rogers Cup when he made an alleged sex sledge towards Stan Wawrinka, and he was drawn to be Murray’s first round opponent in what seems as one of the potentially great matches in R1 to look for. The big serving South African Kevin Andreson, who just won Winston Salem. Winless in 7 finals, he took care of Pierre-Hughes Herbert, and won a title for the first time since 2012. He Is starting to show some form coming in to New York and is the Brit’s possible R3 opponent, or we may see some sort of surprise and Dominik Thiem making it there, if he translates his form on European clay, to the US…

Stan Wawrinka starts with Albert Ramos-Vinolas and could face home hope Jack Sock in R3 with Troicki or Simon possible R4 opponents. This should give him plenty of time to adjust his game and get into a groove. The Swiss lost a very tight QF against future finalist Kei Nishikori in 5 grueling sets and will look to go further this time around. There is a good amount of probability that the Swiss/Scotish duel will happen and this will be their first meeting since playing in 2013 US Open on the same stage. Murray leads the h2h 8-6, but the mentioned match 2 years ago went in Stan’s favour without dropping a set…

31-st of August is almost here!