Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray are both in the same half of the draw at the U.S. Open and could meet in the semifinals of the event, with Nadal attempting to win his first title at Flushing Meadows and Murray attempting to win his first Grand Slam.
Nadal, however, must first navigate a tricky quarter filled with fellow Spaniards and dangerous shotmakers. He begins against the hard-hitting Teimuraz Gabashvili in the first round and could then get Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round and possibly fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez or Ivan Ljubicic in the fourth. Further on could be a blockbuster quarterfinal against David Nalbandian. Also lurking in Nalbandian's section are Fernando Verdasco, Ernests Gulbis and David Ferrer.
Murray, meanwhile, must contend with Tomas Berdych and the new American guard of Sam Querrey and John Isner, the latter in doubt because of an ankle injury.
Novak Djokovic has the American trio of Andy Roddick, red hot Mardy Fish and wildcard James Blake in his quarter, as well as in-form Marcos Baghdatis and out-of-form Nikolay Davydenko.
Roger Federer could meet Robin Soderling in his quarterfinal, but faces a relatively easy road early on with contemporaries Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Jurgen Melzer in his section. Soderling has out-of-form Marin Cilic and Fernando Gonzalez, who is just returning from a knee injury.
First round matches of note include Ernests Gulbis vs. Jeremy Chardy, Radek Stepanek vs. Julien Benneteau, Michael Llodra vs. Tomas Berdych, Nikolay Davydenko vs. Michael Russell, Somdev Devvarman vs. Kevin Anderson, Gilles Simon vs. Donald Young, Taylor Dent vs. Alejandro Falla and Jurgen Melzer vs. Dmitry Tursunov.
The full draw can be seen here.