Nadal, Federer top seeds at US Open; Nalbandian seeded 31st

While a look at the women's seedings provide the delicious prospect of several new faces and possibly a new champion at this year's Open, the most exciting aspect of the men's field is that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have another chance of making it to their first US Open final showdown. Tennis fans, especially American tennis fans, have long been wondering why the other majors have been graced with this classic matchup, when New York has never seen this clash of the titans. When Roger Federer managed to claw himself back to number 2, from the abyss of the number 3 ranking, he ensured that this year's tournament would provide fans the opportunity to do so. While it is sad that Juan Martin Del Potro has had to miss the Open due to injury, his absence is nothing that a classic Rafa-Roger final cannot fix.

Nadal wants this title desperately, in order to add more fat to the 'Who's the greatest of them all' fire that is constantly burning in the minds of every tennis fan. Bjorn Borg never managed to win in New York and had to be consoled with his 6 French Open titles and 5 Wimbledon crowns. While Nadal has now managed to win the French and Wimbledon championships, he has never made it beyond the semis at Flushing Meadows. Having conquered Paris and London, New York is definitely in this Mallorcan's sights, but he might just need a few lucky breaks before he can complete his career Grand Slam.

Federer is seemingly back with a vengeance, as was clear by his recent triumph in Cincinnati. While many will point to Andy Murray's triumph in Toronto as more evidence of the fact that the rest of the world is catching up to Federer, it is still a fact that Roger has the desire to win at the highest level. It is also crystal clear that he has been stung hard by those losses to Robin Soderling and Tomas Berdych which tarnished his European summer. While his dominance on the lawns at Wimbledon has always been talked about more, in truth he has been no less dominant on the Deco Turf at Flushing Meadows, winning back to back titles between 2004 and 2008. Look for Roger to re-establish himself at the highest level by winning this last Grand Slam of the year.

Andy Murray is getting closer and closer to that elusive major title that every tennis lover in the United Kingdom has seemingly waited a lifetime for. A finalist twice on hard courts (2008 US Open and this year's Australian Open), and a convincing winner over Roger Federer in the final at Toronto just a few weeks ago, he is definitely heavily favoured to succeed Juan Martin Del Potro and ensure the title does not go to either Roger or Rafa this year too. He is seeded 4 at this year's Open.

Novak Djokovic must be wondering what he needs to do to get back to the days soon after his Australian Open triumph in 2008, when he was considered to be the most likely person to break up the strangehold that the Federer - Nadal combination had created on men's tennis. He has been consistent this hard court season, making the semi finals in Canada and the quarters in Cincinnati, but has not displayed anything spectacular enough to suggest that he is likely to get back to Grand Slam winning form. That said, no one will be surprised if he makes the semi finals and lives up to his seeding of number 3.

All the top seeds in the draw will be heaving a tremendous sigh of relief that David Nalbandian managed to get seeded at number 31. This keeps the dangerous Argentine away from their paths for the first 2 rounds. Nalbandian won the Legg Mason Classic held in Washington DC in convincing fashion and is definitely on his way back from injury. While it would be stretch to imagine him going all the way and winning, a run into the second week would surprise absolutely no one.

Rounding out the top 9 seeds are Robin Soderling, Nikolay Davydenko, Wimbledon runner up Tomas Berdych, Fernando Verdasco and the highest seed amongst the American men, Andy Roddick. Roddick is slowly approaching the age where people are beginning to question whether he is running out of time to win another major. There is no better place for him to silence the critics than in New York, the site of his original and maiden triumph.

The most impressive American this summer has been none other than a leaner fitter version of Mardy Fish, who has been rewarded with the 19 seed at the Open. His hard fought loss to Federer at Cincinnati proved that he was ready to take it to the next level mentally and now it is just a matter of him stringing together 7 straight matches just like that final, in order to replace Roddick as America's best hope for a Grand Slam title.

The other dark horse amongst the seeded players is another comeback kid, the Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis who is seeded 16. A run to the finals at the Legg Mason and a stunning upset victory over Rafael Nadal at Cincinnati have definitely helped him earn the right to be considered a dangerous opponent when the draw comes out. While it is unclear if he is mentally fit enough to win the championship, he might very well go beyond the quarter finals of the tournament and knock out a few higher seeded players in the process.

The singles draws for the US Open will be revealed Thursday, Aug. 26, at 12 p.m. (ET). Join us for a comprehensive review of the same later today.

2010 US Open Men's Singles Seeds

1. Rafael Nadal, Spain
2. Roger Federer, Switzerland
3. Novak Djokovic, Serbia
4. Andy Murray, Great Britain
5. Robin Soderling, Sweden
6. Nikolay Davydenko, Russia
7. Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic
8. Fernando Verdasco, Spain
9. Andy Roddick, United States
10. David Ferrer, Spain
11. Marin Cilic, Croatia
12. Mikhail Youzhny, Russia
13. Jurgen Melzer, Austria
14. Nicolas Almagro, Spain
15. Ivan Ljubicic, Croatia
16. Marcos Baghdatis, Cyprus
17. Gael Monfils, France
18. John Isner, United States
19. Mardy Fish, United States
20. Sam Querrey, United States
21. Albert Montanes, Spain
22. Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spain
23. Feliciano Lopez, Spain
24. Ernests Gulbis, Latvia
25. Stanislas Wawrinka, Switzerland
26. Thomaz Bellucci, Brazil
27. Fernando Gonzalez, Chile
28. Radek Stepanek, Czech Republic
29. Philipp Kohlschreiber, Germany
30. Juan Monaco, Argentina
31. David Nalbandian, Argentina
32. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia