NEW YORK — Seeking to complete the career Grand Slam, Rafael Nadal will be the top-seeded man when the U.S. Open starts next week, while Roger Federer will come to Flushing Meadows seeded second.
Nadal, who won the French Open and Wimbledon this year, is seeded first at the U.S. Open for the second time in three years. He has never made it past the semifinals.
The women’s seedings have been delayed one day because of a rainout of Sunday’s final at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. On Monday, world No. 2 Carolina Wozniacki defeated Vera Zvonareva to win that tournament.
It appears Wozniacki, who lost to Kim Clijsters in last year’s final, will get the top seed at the U.S. Open because Serena Williams, the world’s top-ranked player, has withdrawn while recovering from surgery to repair cuts on her right foot.
Also missing from New York will be defending men’s champion Juan Martin del Potro, who remains sidelined because of a wrist injury.
Del Potro defeated Federer in last year’s final, ending his string of five straight U.S. Open titles. Federer, who won the Australian Open this year, is seeking his 17th Grand Slam tournament title.
Del Potro, meanwhile, is only the third U.S. Open men’s champion in the 42-year Open era who won’t be on hand to defend his title.
Seeded third for the men is Novak Djokovic, followed by Andy Murray at No. 4. Robin Soderling, Nikolay Davydenko, Tomas Berdych and Fernando Verdasco round out the top eight.
At No. 9, Andy Roddick is the highest seeded American man. With a trip to the semifinals in Cincinnati last weekend, Roddick jumped back into the world’s top 10.
Earlier this month, Roddick fell to No. 12 and it marked the first time since the rankings began in 1973 that no American man was in the top 10.
The draws for the tournament come out Thursday.
U.S. Open
SEEDS
Note: Women’s seeds will be announced today
MEN
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
WITHDRAWALS
MEN
Juan Martin del Potro (9) — U.S. Open champion, 2009; Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (10) — Australian Open runner-up, 2008; Tommy Haas (170) — U.S. Open quarterfinalist, 2004, 2006, 2007
WOMEN
Serena Williams (1) — U.S. Open champion, 1999, 2002, 2008; Justine Henin (14) — U.S. Open champion, 2003, 2007
