ROGER FEDERER, RAFA NADAL ON SAME SIDE OF U.S. OPEN DRAW, ANDY MURRAY IN SOFT SECTION

Written by: Staff on 25th August 2017

ROGER FEDERER, RAFA NADAL ON SAME SIDE OF U.S. OPEN DRAW, ANDY MURRAY IN SOFT SECTION |

By Ricky Dimon

The 2017 U.S. Open draw ceremony was held on Friday afternoon in New York, and the big news is that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are on the same side of the bracket. Federer missed out on the No. 2 seed–held by Andy Murray–by a mere five points, leaving open the possibility of landing in the top-seeded Nadal’s half. And that is exactly what happened.

A Federer vs. Nadal semifinal showdown would be their first ever at the U.S. Open.

Federer’s path to the semifinals, however, is far from simple. The 19-time Grand Slam champion will kick off his campaign against Frances Tiafoe and he could run into Nick Kyrgios in the fourth round. Potential quarterfinal adversaries for Federer include Dominic Thiem, Juan Martin Del Potro, and Roberto Bautista Agut.

Nadal appears to have a friendlier section. The Spaniard will begin his fortnight against Dusan Lajovic and his nearest seed is Richard Gasquet, perhaps his absolute favorite opponent to play against. Nadal’s section also features Tomas Berdych, Fabio Fognini, Gael Monfils, and Cincinnati champion Grigor Dimitrov.

Murray’s reward for being the No. 2 seed is an amazingly soft draw. Among the second-ranked Scot’s fellow seeds in the bottom section of the bracket are Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Pablo Carreno Busta, Lucas Pouille, and David Ferrer. Likely the only issue Murray could encounter prior to the semis is his own health. Due to a hip injury, he has not played since losing to Querrey at Wimbledon.

With recent U.S. Open champions Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka sidelined by physical problems, Alexander Zverev is the fourth seed. The 20-year-old German has never done major damage at a slam, so his section is wide open. Other contenders include Marin Cilic, John Isner, Jack Sock, and Gilles Muller.

Among the first-round matches to watch are Berdych vs. Ryan Harrison, Monfils vs. Jeremy Chardy, Alexandr Dolgopolov vs. Jan-Lennard Struff, Fernando Verdasco vs. Vasek Pospisil, Dustin Brown vs. Thomaz Bellucci, Marcos Baghdatis vs. Taylor Fritz, Cilic vs. Gilles Simon, Benoit Paire vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber, Muller vs. Bernard Tomic, Jiri Vesely vs. Borna Coric, Steve Johnson vs. Nicolas Almagro, Jared Donaldson vs. Nikoloz Basilashvili, and Thanasi Kokkinakis vs. Janko Tipsarevic.