US Open Tennis 2012: Roger Federer and Andy Murray Locks to Meet in Semifinals

He won't admit it, but Novak Djokovic smiled on Thursday when the brackets for the 2012 US Open were released.

Djokovic, the defending US Open champion who is currently ranked second in the world, will not have to face either fourth ranked Andy Murray or top-ranked Roger Federer before the final match as he looks to defend his title.

With all due respect to the other competitors on the Federer/Murray side of the bracket, it's hard to bet against two of the four best players in the world—and that one of them will ultimately face Djokovic for the title.

For Federer, the US Open represents another chance to silence his critics, who came out in droves to announce the end of his career as one of tennis's elite players after he dropped to third in the rankings, the result of a quarterfinal exit from Wimbledon in 2010.

With the 2012 Wimbledon title under his belt and his victory at last weekend's Western & Southern Open, Federer is on a roll heading into Flushing.

For Murray, he gets to answer his own doubters, those who question whether the 25-year-old has what it takes to win a major. Some have questioned the relevance of winning gold at the Summer Games as it pertains to tennis on the tour and whether it has any real impact.

To them, I say hogwash. Not only was it a major accomplishment for Murray to win gold, but to do it with the weight of a country on his shoulders, on his home turf, and to defeat Federer in the process—it doesn't get much bigger or more pressure-packed than that.

So on Sept. 8, when you turn on your television, don't be surprised to see Roger Federer and Andy Murray going head-to-head for the 18th time since 2005. Whether Federer can even the series at nine-a-piece, however, remains to be seen.