The final grand slam tournament of the year, which begins on Monday at Flushing Meadows, will welcome the world’s two highest ranked players in intimidating form.

Two Masters tournaments, the level below a grand slam, have been played this month with Murray triumphing in Montreal and Federer in Cincinnati. 

Rafa Nadal has struggled to recover from the knee injuries that kept him out of Wimbledon, while a supporting cast of Djokovic, Roddick and Del Potro does not look strong enough to challenge the dominating duo on their favoured New York hard courts.

Looking just at the top two, Federer has the edge. The Swiss won his most recent encounter with Murray, in the Cincinatti semi-finals, has won three of the past four grand slam tournaments. And, oh yes, he is the five time defending US Open champion.

On top of that, when the two met in the final last year Federer won at a stroll. He played beautiful tennis as he destroyed Murray 6-2 7-5 6-2. The first set of the match was telling. A nerveless Federer repeatedly held serve with ease, and waited for first-night errors from his opponent, a grand slam final debutant. They duly came in the sixth game. The Fed broke for 4-2 and never looked back.

So what hope can Murray cling to as he embarks on his quest this year? Well, to get to last year’s final he had to beat the then world number one Nadal over five sets and two days — by far the greatest triumph of his career to date. Even if he wasn’t tired after that, and remember Murray is ultra-fit, a man who does sets of 400 metre sprints in the heat of Miami for fun, the mental effort would have been extraordinary. 

Then there is their head to head record, which Murray leads 6-3. The Fed is nearly six years older and has made it clear he feels uncomfortable playing against Murray’s attritional style. And his wife Mirka has just had twins, with one of them called Charlene — suggesting a serious lack of judgment on Roger’s part (sorry Roger, only joking).

But who are we kidding?

Federer has an incredible power on court, and the ability to win the key points and games to relentlessly accumulate major titles. Only Nadal at his rampaging best has broken through his force-field, and even then in two nail-biting five-set finals at Wimbledon and in Australia.

A 16th grand slam awaits Roger Federer.

PHOTO: Roger Federer talks with Andy Murray after winning his fifth straight U.S. Open tennis title at Flushing Meadows in New York September 8, 2008. REUTERS/Kena Betancur