The 2016 US Open Tennis Championships gets underway today at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.

Headlining the Men’s half of the draw are the World No. 1 and Defending champion, Novak Djokovic and the 4th seed, Rafael Nadal.

Djokovic, started the year off well by winning both the Australian and French Open tournaments and in doing so, achieving the “Nole Slam” (reigning champion in all four of the Grand Slam tournaments) and becoming the first player to reach US$100 million in prize money.

However, his winning streak came to an end, when he was beaten by America’s Sam Querrey in the third round at Wimbledon. He bounced back to win the Rogers Cup but was then beaten by Juan Martin Del Potro from Argentina in the first round of the Rio Olympics earlier this month.

Djokovic’s first round opponent is Jerzy Janowicz from Poland. It will be the first time that these two players do battle and with a ranking of 247 for Janowicz, it should be plain sailing for Djokovic.

With Roger Federer missing the rest of this year’s tournaments due to injury, it is good to see his former rival, Spain’s Rafael Nadal back in action, following a wrist injury that saw him withdrawing from the French Open and missing Wimbledon. The Spaniard, had a good stint at the Rio Olympics, losing out on a bronze medal to Kei Nishikori, but winning the Men’s Doubles Gold medal with compatriot, Marc Lopez.

First up for Nadal will be Denis Istomin, who he has beaten in their four previous matches.

After a short stint as coach for the 5th seed, Milos Raonic from Canada, former Grand Slam champion and now commentator, John McEnroe, announced that he will no longer be coaching the Canadian. Raonic’s regular coaches, Carlos Moya and Riccardo Piatti will continue their duties. Raonic reached his first Grand Slam final this year at Wimbledon, where he was beaten by Andy Murray.