The top two men's and women's seeds and the 96 unseeded players were placed in the draw randomly the night before, with Thursday's draw ceremony placing the remaining seeded players into the drawsheets.

Clijsters, who returned to the WTA Tour late last summer from an over two-year retirement that included having her first daughter, Jada, won the US Open in just her third tournament back for her second title in Flushing Meadows. Coming back this year as the defending champion now feels a little different for her, but it brings back all the great feelings of winning last year and celebrating with her family.

"I feel good. Last year was a different feeling because it was my first Grand Slam back and being here last year, (with the US Open) having been my only Grand Slam win, was exciting," Clijsters said. "But to be here now to defend my title is a lot of fun, and it is exciting and brings back a lot of good emotions."

In the men's draw, Nadal will once again have to defeat No. 4 Andy Murray in the semifinals. The two met in the 2008 semifinals, a match Murray won over two days. Nadal is 8-4 overall against Murray but has lost four of their last five meetings on hardcourts. Nadal is looking for his first US Open title, which would give him his third Grand Slam tournament title this year and the career Grand Slam.

On Nadal's way to the semifinals, he could face Fernando Verdasco or David Nalbandian potentially in the quarterfinals.

McEnroe, an ESPN tennis commentator as well as the U.S. Davis Cup Captain and general manager of USTA Player Development, thought it was a good draw for Murray with his success on hardcourts.

"I think the biggest thing was which half Murray and Djokovic came up on. I think Murray is probably happy to be in Nadal's half," he said. "He matches up well with him on this surface."

In Murray's quarter, he could play American Sam Querrey in the fourth round and potentially No. 7 and 2010 Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals.

On the other side of the draw, five-time champion Federer has No. 5 Robin Soderling in his quarter as perhaps his likely only real threat to reaching the semifinals. Federer defeated Soderling in the quarterfinals last year.

A tough semifinal match, however, could await him in either No. 9 Andy Roddick or No. 3 Novak Djokovic. Federer defeated Djokovic in the semifinals of the 2009 US Open, in which he made his now-famous 'The Shot' that went between his legs for a winner.

Federer is looking to reach the US Open final for the seventh straight year and win his 17th career Grand Slam tournament title.

In Roddick's quarter of the draw, he could face No. 17 Gael Monfils in the third round and then No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko in the fourth round before a potential quarterfinal meeting with Djokovic.

As a whole, McEnroe thinks there will be a rematch of the 2008 US Open Final on the men's side, although he does think the draw works out well for Roddick, too.

"To me, the two favorites are Murray and Federer. I think Federer found his game again in Cincinnati (winning the title), and I think he will be happy that he has Murray on the other half," he said. "If you look at the draw in Federer's quarter, it looks pretty clear, although Soderling is a guy who could give you some trouble in the quarters. The other guy I think should be happy is Roddick. Roddick avoided Federer, Nadal and Murray - the guys who give him the most trouble - so I think the draw worked out pretty well for him."

The women's final could see two former US Open champions meeting, with defending champion Clijsters and two-time champion Venus Williams on one side of the draw and former champions Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova on the other.

Sharapova and Kuznetsova are in the same quarter of the draw, which could be the toughest, along with women's top seed Caroline Wozniacki, who lost to Clijsters in the final last year. Wozniacki drew the top seed, with world No. 1 Serena Williams having to withdraw due to a foot injury.

Wozniacki and Sharapova could meet as early as the fourth round, and then the winner could face Kuznetsova in the quarters.

The winner of that match could then face No. 4 Jelena Jankovic, who reached her only Grand Slam final at the 2008 US Open.

On the other side of the draw, two-time US Open champion Venus Williams looks to have a favorable section, with her biggest threat perhaps No. 10 Victoria Azarenka, who is looking for her first Grand Slam tournament title. The two could meet in the quarterfinals. 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone also looms in that quarter of the draw.

In the semifinals, Williams could then face Clijsters. The two met in the fourth round of the 2009 US Open, with Clijsters advancing in three sets. In Clijsters' section of the draw, she could potentially play No. 5 Samantha Stosur in the quarterfinals or No. 12 Elena Dementieva.

Also lurking in that quarter of the draw are former world No. 1s Dinara Safina and Ana Ivanovic. Safina, the No. 1 seed at the 2009 US Open, opens against Daniela Hantuchova.

Clijsters looks at her first-round match - against Greta Arn of Hungary - and then does not like to map out her path through the draw too much past that, knowing how quickly things can change.

"I am one of the players who does not look too far ahead," she said. "I look at the first rounds, and there are some good first-round matches coming up. So much can happen before you maybe eventually play a seeded player. There is no point in looking far ahead because upsets happen all the time.""