Rafael Nadal, the new world number one in men’s tennis, is the top seed for the US Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, which will start in New York on August 25. Best known for his domination on clay, Nadal has a respectable record on hard courts, having won the Indian Wells tournament in 2007 and finished runner-up in Key Biscayne in the last two years. The Spaniard’s best showing at Flushing Meadows is a quarterfinal appearance in 2006. He lost in the fourth round in 2007. But he goes into this year’s tournament on a high, having won the men’s singles gold medal at the Beijing Olympics on August 17 and dethroning Roger Federer as world number one a day later. Nadal is bidding to become only the third Spaniard to win the US Open, as well as take his streak of consecutive Grand Slam titles to three, having won the French Open and Wimbledon earlier this year. His main rivals for the biggest tournament prize money pay-out are defending champion Federer – who is clearly experiencing a slump in form after the crushing defeats he suffered at Nadal’s hands in the French Open and Wimbledon finals – and last year’s runner-up, Novak Djokovic.