Nadal heads seedings for US Open

Nadal has won two Grand Slams this year

Rafael Nadal will be the top seed at a Grand Slam for the first time in his career at next week’s US Open following his elevation to world number one.

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic follow him, with Scot Andy Murray seeded sixth. Ex-world number one Lleyton Hewitt has pulled out with injury.

Ana Ivanovic is women’s top seed, with Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Serena Williams next.

The singles draws for the tournament will be announced on Thursday.

Nadal officially became the new world number one on Monday, ending Federer’s record reign of 237 successive weeks.

Federer was the top seed at the last 18 majors.

Murray will be looking to overcome his disappointing early exit from the Beijing Olympics and rediscover the form that took him to success at the Cincinnati Masters.

The British number one’s best effort in New York was in 2006 when he reached the fourth round.

Hewitt will miss the rest of the season after having arthroscopic surgery on a long-term hip problem.

“Surgery was always the last resort, but unfortunately that’s what it came down to,” the 27-year-old Australian said.

“I am also shattered that I can’t lead the Australian Davis Cup team in Chile (in Santiago from 19-21 September) in our bid to rejoin the world group, and hope that the boys can still come through with a great win.

“I am looking forward to playing again in January in my home country, and using that as a springboard to compete at my best again on the world stage for at least a couple of more years.”

The most notable absence on the women’s side is world number six and 2006 champion Maria Sharapova, who announced earlier this month that she is missing the event to recover from a shoulder injury.