World number ones Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were confirmed Tuesday as the top seeds for the 2013 US Open.
Spain’s Rafael Nadal, who returned to number two in the world this week after winning back-to-back Masters titles at Montreal and Cincinnati, is the second seed with reigning men’s champion Andy Murray seeded third.
Murray will be defending a Grand Slam title for the first time and also trying to win back-to-back majors for the first time after his triumph at Wimbledon.
Roger Federer, a five-time US Open champion, has dropped to seventh, his lowest seeding at Flushing Meadows since 2002.
Djokovic has reached at least the semi-finals in each of the last six years.
Williams, a 16-time Grand Slam champion, is the reigning US Open and French Open champion.
Two-time champion Venus Williams, currently ranked 60th in the world, is unseeded for the tournament that begins on Monday.
Nadal, Djokovic target Murray’s US crown
Once the hunter, now the hunted, Murray is braced for an all-out assault on his US Open title from rejuvenated Rafael Nadal and world number one Djokovic.
Murray ended Britain’s 76-year wait for a Grand Slam men’s champion by triumphing in New York in 2012 and backed it up with his historic Wimbledon victory this year, the first by a British man since Fred Perry in 1936.
The Scot beat Djokovic to win the US Open 12 months ago and repeated the dose against the Serb at the All England Club six weeks ago.
But it is Nadal, rather than Djokovic, who is tipped to win a second title in New York, to add to his 2010 victory, and clinch a 13th career major.
“It’s a nice feeling to arrive to the US Open with two victories in two very difficult tournaments,” said Nadal, never one to get too far ahead of himself.