The main singles draw for the last Grand Slam tournament in 2014 was made on Thursday.
Top seed and 2011 champion will open campaign in his tenth US Open appearance against Diego Schwartzman of Argentina (ATP #79). It will be their first career meeting.
The world no.1 might face either Gilles Muller (Luxembourg) or Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) in the second round.
Novak’s possible opponents in the later stages of the tournament are:
3rd round: Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP, 28), Sam Querrey (USA)
4th round: John Isner (USA, 13), Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER, 22)
Quarter-finals: Andy Murray (GBR, 8), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA, 9), Julien Benneteau (FRA, 24), Fernando Verdasco (ESP, 31)
Semi-finals: Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI, 3), Milos Raonic (CAN, 5), Tommy Robredo (ESP, 16)
Roger Federer (SUI, 2), David Ferrer (ESP, 4), Tomas Berdych (CZE, 6), Grigor Dimitrov (BUL, 7), Ernests Gulbis (LAT, 11), Richard Gasquet (FRA, 12)… are in the bottom half of the draw, and Nole can’t meet them before the finals.
Last year Novak finished runner-up to Rafael Nadal (2-6, 6-3, 4-6, 1-6), who will not defend his title due to injury.
Djokovic won 45 matches out of 53 he played in New York. This season he has a 39-6 match record (18-4 on hard).
Competitions at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows (New York) begin on August 25, and will last until September 8.
Photo: Getty Images
