2012 US OPEN: Men's Draw Released

Finally one of the most pressing questions surrounding the 2012 US Open can be answered. Roger Federer and Andy Murray will be in the same (top) half of the draw, with 2011 US Open defending champion Novak Djokovic by himself in the bottom half of the draw, thanks to Rafael Nadal's absence from the tournament.

In fact, Federer has one of his toughest draws at a major tournament in a long time. In the 3rd round he has a potential match up with Fernando Verdasco with a 4th round encounter with Ivo Karlovic, Gilles Simon or Mardy Fish. His quarterfinal opponent could be Tomas Berdych  or Sam Querrey. Then Federer would face Murray in the semifinal and Djokovic in the final. Federer's first round match is with African-American lefty Donald Young who is having an annus horribilis with a 3-21 record for the year.

Other interesting first-round matches are Juan Martin del Potro versus David Nalbandian, Ernests Gulbis versus Tommy Haas and Robin Haase versus Feliciano Lopez.