Resurgent Nadal, Federer the cynosure

 Their rivalry has stretched 13 years and 37 matches but Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have never met at the US Open, an anomaly which seems certain to be corrected after a host of rivals limped out of contention.

Nadal, back on top of the world rankings for the first time in three years, is a two-time winner in New York, his 2010 and 2013 titles forming part of his 15-Slam portfolio which was embellished by a record 10th French Open in June. Federer, the five-time US champion from 2004-2008, is bidding for a 20th major and third of the year after capturing the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles.

Victory in the men’s final on September 10 would also make the 36-year-old the oldest US Open champion of the modern era and oldest overall since Bill Tilden in 1929. The path to the title for Nadal and Federer has been eased. World number two Andy Murray, the 2012 champion, withdrew on Saturday after failing to recover from a hip injury. Two-time winner Novak Djokovic has already shut down his season to recover from an elbow injury while defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka faces knee surgery.

With Kei Nishikori, the 2014 runner-up, and Milos Raonic also injured, five of the current world top 11 will be missing when the tournament starts on Monday. However, for tennis romantics, Murray’s withdrawal came after the draw was made leaving top seed Nadal and third-seeded Federer in the same half, thereby ruling out a collision in the final.

With many big guns missing the tournament should also present the perfect opportunity for the widely- touted ‘NextGen’ to step up. Alexander Zverev, the world number six, downed Federer for the Montreal title but slumped first time out in Cincinnati to Tiafoe. Zverev has never got beyond the fourth round of a Slam and was a second-round loser in New York in 2016. Kyrgios, the runner-up in Cincinnati, made the quarterfinals at the Australian Open in 2015 and Wimbledon in 2014 but his US Open best is a run to the third round.

Open affair

Serena Williams is about to have a baby and Victoria Azarenka will stay home with her infant son as she battles for custody -- leaving the US Open women’s field in total suspense over who might win.

Eight players have a chance to leave the year’s last Grand Slam with the world number one ranking, making the Flushing Meadows fortnight that starts from Monday a tennis thriller, even without two of the sport’s top stars.

Czech world number one Karolina Pliskova, Simona Halep, Caroline Wozniacki, Wimbledon champion and world number three Garbine Muguruza, Ukraine’s fourth-ranked Elina Svitolina, Britain’s Johanna Konta and Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova all have a chance to not just become world number one but reign supreme at the Big Apple.