Six of the women's top 10 have opted not to travel to New York to play at the US Open amid the global health crisis, with the tournament set to be held without spectators and with safety measures in place.

World number one Ashleigh Barty, world number two Simona Halep, defending champion Bianca Andreescu, Elina Svitolina, Kiki Bertens and Belinda Bencic will not feature. 

On the men's side, defending champion Rafael Nadal has pulled out and Switzerland's Roger Federer is still recovering from injury. 

Organisers have remained confident that the withdrawals will not ruin the tournament, which is the first Grand Slam to take place since tennis was suspended in March. 

World number one Novak Djokovic is the top seed in the men's contest and is set to face Bosnia and Herzegovina's Damir Džumhur in the opening round.

Victory at the US Open would move the Serbian to within two Grand Slam titles of Federer’s record of 20 and just one behind Nadal’s total of 19.

Djokovic’s potential route to the final could include matches against Belgium’s David Goffin and Germany’s Alexander Zverev.

The latter is set to open his tournament with a clash against South Africa’s Kevin Anderson, who reached the final of the US Open back in 2017.

Second seed Dominic Thiem of Austria is due to face Spain’s Jaume Munar, while Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev is scheduled to play Argentina's Federico Delbonis.

Britain’s two-time Olympic champion Andy Murray, given wild-card entry to the tournament, will open against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.

Following the withdrawals from the women's singles contest, Karolína Plíšková is now top seed. 

The Czech player is due to come up against Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina in the first round.

Plíšková has only once reached a Grand Slam final - at the 2016 US Open.

Home favourite Serena Williams, who is aiming to match Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam titles, has been drawn against fellow American Kristie Ahn, who was born in Flushing Meadows. 

Other favourites include Germany’s Angelique Kerber, who defeated Plíšková in the 2016 final, and 2018 champion Naomi Osaka.

Kerber will play Australia’s Ajla Tomljanović and Osaka is poised to feature in an all-Japanese match alongside Misaki Doi. 

Osaka's place in the tournament is in doubt, however, after the 22-year-old was forced to withdraw from the Cincinnati Masters final in New York with a pulled hamstring.

Osaka had pulled out of her Cincinnati Masters semi-final to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake, but opted to play after the entire tournament was suspended for a day.

Players competing at the US Open have to enter a "bio-secure bubble", including mandatory tests before being allowed into the Flushing Meadows site.

The majority of participants are also staying in the same hotel and are being shuttled to the venue. 

Despite the precautions, the build-up to the tournament has not been COVID-19 free, with an unnamed player withdrawing today after testing positive for the virus. 

Competition is scheduled to run until September 13.  

In addition to the pandemic, it is set to take place with a backdrop of controversy over the formation of a new men's players' association - the Professional Tennis Players' Association - which has been created by Djokovic and Canada's Vasek Pospisil.