Novak Djokovic vs Andy Murray in a third Grand Slam final in 2016 could be in the offing as Serena Williams targets her second straight major with the seeds for the US Open expectedly putting the two world number ones, in the men's and women's singles, at the top.
Djokovic will lead the men as the No.1 seed for the US Open, closely followed by Andy Murray, with Stanislas Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal rounding up the top four.
Serena is the top seed in the women's singles, with Angelique Kerber, who has the chance of usurping the American as the world number one with a stellar show in the final Grand Slam of the year, coming in as the second seed. Garbine Muguruza, the French Open champion, is seeded third, while Agnieszka Radwanska is the No.4 seed for the 2016 edition of the US Open.
With Djokovic and Murray, expectedly, the top two seeds of the Grand Slam, they are in line to play in another major final. The two best players in the world met in the finals of the Australian Open and French Open earlier this year, with Djokovic coming up trumps in both.
However, Murray is the in-form player going into this US Open, having won the Wimbledon title and then defended his gold medal at the Rio Olympics. Djokovic, since that French Open victory, when he finally completed a career Grand Slam, has lost in the third round of Wimbledon, to American Sam Querrey, and in the opening round of the Olympics, to eventual silver medallist Juan Martin Del Potro. The Argentinian has been given a wild card for the tournament.
While most will expect Djokovic and Murray to enter another Grand Slam final, there will be plenty of eyes on Nadal as well, who made a strong comeback from a wrist injury by reaching the semifinals at the Olympics in the men's singles, while winning the gold medal in the men's doubles.
If he stays injury-free, we could be in for a cracker of a Nadal vs Djokovic or Nadal vs Murray semifinal, depending on how they are drawn. There will be no Roger Federer in there, though, with the Swiss sitting out the remainder of the season to recover from a knee injury.
In the women's singles, Serena will have her eyes firmly on the title in the women's singles, after finally equalling Steffi Graf's Open era record of 22 Grand Slam titles, when the American won Wimbledon. If she wins the US Open, Serena will be one major away from equalling Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 Grand Slam victories.
Trying to stop her will be Kerber, Muguruza, Radwanska and even her sister Venus, who has shown signs of her old form.
US Open seedings: Women's singles: 1. Serena Williams; 2. Angelique Kerber; 3. Garbine Muguruza; 4. Agnieszka Radwanska; 5. Simona Halep; 6. Venus Williams; 7. Roberta Vinci; 8. Madison Keys; 9. Svetlana Kuznetsova; 10. Karolina Pliskova; 11. Carla Suarez Navarro; 12. Dominika Cibulkova; 13. Johanna Konta; 14. Petra Kvitova; 15. Timea Bacsinszky; 16. Samantha Stosur; 17. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova; 18. Barbora Strycova; 19. Elena Vesnina; 20. Kiki Bertens; 21. Irina-Camelia Begu; 22. Elina Svitolina; 23. Daria Kasatkina; 24. Sloane Stephens; 25. Belinda Bencic; 26. Caroline Garcia; 27. Laura Siegemund; 28. Sara Errani; 29. Coco Vandeweghe; 30. Ana Ivanovic; 31. Misaki Doi; 32. Timea Babos.
Men's singles: 1. Novak Djokovic; 2. Andy Murray; 3. Stan Wawrinka; 4. Rafael Nadal; 5. Milos Raonic; 6. Kei Nishikori; 7. Marin Cilic; 8. Dominic Thiem; 9. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga; 10. Gael Monfils; 11. David Ferrer; 12. David Goffin; 13. Richard Gasquet; 14. Nick Kyrgios; 15. Roberto Bautista Agut; 16. Feliciano Lopez; 17. Bernard Tomic; 18. Pablo Cuevas; 19. Steve Johnson; 20. John Isner; 21. Ivo Karlovic; 22. Grigor Dimitrov; 23. Kevin Anderson; 24. Lucas Pouille; 25. Philipp Kohlschreiber; 26. Jack Sock; 27. Alexander Zverev; 28. Martin Klizan; 29. Sam Querrey; 30. Gilles Simon; 31. Albert Ramos-Vinolas; 32. Benoit Paire.
