Defending champion Novak Djokovic and 2012 winner Andy Murray headline the men’s seeds at the 2016 US Open, which gets underway in New York on Monday.
The top two players in the world are also the top two seeds and among four US Open victors and five Grand Slam champs to earn Top 10 seeds at the final major of the season.
Djokovic – a 12-time major winner who lifted the trophy in Flushing in 2011 and 2015 – and Murray – who has three Slams to accompany a pair of Olympic gold medals, join major winners Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic as players seeded inside the Top 7.
Nadal won two of his 14 Grand Slam men’s singles titles in the Big Apple – in 2010 and again in 2013 – while Cilic took the top prize in 2014. Wawrinka is a two-time Slam titlist (2014 Australian Open, 2015 French Open) and he has been to the semifinals in New York in two of the past three years.
The other players seeded inside the Top 10 are Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic, 2014 US Open finalist Kei Nishikori, Austrian world No. 8 Dominic Thiem and the French duo of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils.
Four American men are seeded at this year’s US Open: No. 19 Steve Johnson, No. 20 John Isner, No. 26 Jack Sock and No. 29 Sam Querrey.
This is the third consecutive year – and the fourth overall (also in 2011) – that Djokovic has been the US Open's top seed. In the Open era, the only men who have been seeded No. 1 on five or more occasions are John McEnroe (1981-85), Pete Sampras (1994, 1996-99) and Roger Federer (2004-07, 2009, 2012). Bjorn Borg (1977-80) and Ivan Lendl (1986-89) were also the top seeds on four occasions.
Five-time US Open champion and current world No. 4 Federer will not be competing in this year’s US Open to recover from a knee injury, while world No. 8 Tomas Berdych withdrew from the US Open this weekend due to appendicitis. Juan Martin del Potro, who won the 2009 US Open, was awarded a wild card into the main draw and is unseeded.
For 2016, the US Open followed the Emirates ATP Rankings released Monday to determine the men’s singles seeds. This is the 16th consecutive year that the US Open will seed 32 players in singles.
The singles draws for the 2016 US Open will be revealed live during an official draw ceremony on Friday, Aug. 26, at 11:30 a.m. ET at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Defending US Open champions Novak Djokovic and Flavia Pennetta will make an appearance at the event.
2016 US Open Men’s Singles Seeds
1. Novak Djokovic, Serbia
2. Andy Murray, Great Britain
3. Stan Wawrinka, Switzerland
4. Rafael Nadal, Spain
5. Milos Raonic, Canada
6. Kei Nishikori, Japan
7. Marin Cilic, Croatia
8. Dominic Thiem, Austria
9. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, France
10. Gael Monfils, France
11. David Ferrer, Spain
12. David Goffin, Belgium
13. Richard Gasquet, France
14. Nick Kyrgios, Australia
15. Roberto Bautista Agut, Spain
16. Feliciano Lopez, Spain
17. Bernard Tomic, Australia
18. Pablo Cuevas, Uruguay
19. Steve Johnson, United States
20. John Isner, United States
21. Ivo Karlovic, Croatia
22. Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgaria
23. Kevin Anderson, South Africa
24. Lucas Pouille, France
25. Philipp Kohlschreiber, Germany
26. Jack Sock, United States
27. Alexander Zverev, Germany
28. Martin Klizan, Slovakia
29. Sam Querrey, United States
30. Gilles Simon, France
31. Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Spain
32. Benoit Paire, France
