The official website for the 2017 US Open announced their 32 seeds on August 24. In the men's draw, Rafael Nadal will be the top seed as the Grand Slam in New York followed the rankings and only placed people higher than what they earned due to players missing the draw. One questionable player heading into the US Open is Marin Cilic. But with the seeds announced he was given a No. 5 position as he looks to contest his first draw since losing in the Wimbledon final.

The importance of being seeded is that it guarantees that you can't meet another seed until at least the third round.

In the same way, players that are seeded in the top sixteen cannot face a player ranked higher than themselves until at least the fourth round. Likewise, players seeded top 8 or top 4 or 2nd can't face higher seeds until the quarters, the semifinals, and the final respectively.

Seeds don't perfectly reflect ability

Ashley Marshall, who wrote the article that announced the seeds stated that Nadal and Karolina Pliskova, "As the top seeds...therefore would not meet their closest rivals before the finals" (August 24). That assertion could invoke a debate about what constitutes being "closest rivals." Certainly, Nadal will not be able to face Andy Murray before the final because the Scot is the No.

2 seed. However, it seems that Roger Federer is more of a rival for Nadal right now than Murray. Furthermore, you could argue that Pliskova may face a stiffer challenge from Garbine Muguruza than 2-seeded Simona Halep.

There are plenty of times when the dangers in a Grand Slam aren't reflective of their seeds. The way tennis does things a No.

1 seed can meet a No. 3 or No. 4 seed in the semifinals. In 2014, for instance, top-seeded Novak Djokovic and third-seeded Stan Wawrinka were on the same half of the draw. Tennis doesn't follow the basketball model where 1 meets 4 and 2 meets 3 in projected semifinals so Nadal could meet his closest rival, Roger Federer, ahead of the championship match.

That depends on the draw, but it could also be that Nadal and Federer are on opposite sides.

Dangerous low or middle seeds

With all Grand Slams, there are some players that are lower seeds that could still be game changers. Nick Kyrgios is seeded 14th and that projects to a fourth-round exit. But he seems to be playing higher than that right now. Sam Querrey is seeded 17th and he looks more dangerous that what that suggests. Likewise, David Ferrer and Kevin Anderson are seeded 21st and 28th. They could each face a high-ranked player in the third round so they are certainly two players to watch for in the draw. 15th-seeded Tomas Berdych is likewise a danger, the Czech player coming off of a Wimbledon semifinal run in the last major.
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