Federer Heads the Men’s Field at the U.S. Open

Roger Federer, the three-time defending champion, heads the men’s field for the United States Open, which includes all players ranked in the top 100. The United States Tennis Association announced yesterday that the field would also include the former Open champions Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick and Marat Safin.

The Open will be played Aug. 27 to Sept. 9 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens.

With his victory last year, Federer, who has won this year’s Australian Open and Wimbledon titles, joined Ivan Lendl (1985-87) and John McEnroe (1979-81) as the only men to win three consecutive United States Open men’s singles titles in the Open era. Behind Federer on the entry list are No. 2 Rafael Nadal of Spain, the French Open champion; No. 3 Novak Djokovic of Serbia, No. 4 Roddick of the United States; No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia; No. 6 Fernando González of Chile; No. 7 Tommy Robredo of Spain; No. 8 Richard Gasquet of France; No. 9 James Blake of the United States; and No. 10 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.

Other American men who received direct entry into this year’s tournament include No. 40 Mardy Fish, No. 45 Robby Ginepri, No. 62 Vince Spadea, No. 63 Amer Delic, No. 68 Michael Russell, No. 91 Sam Querrey and No. 97 Paul Goldstein.

Eight entrants have won Grand Slam singles titles in their careers, including the 2003 French Open champion, Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain; the 2002 Australian Open champion, Thomas Johansson of Australia; and the 1998 French Open champion Carlos Moyá of Spain.