Roger Federer will go into next week's US Open convinced he can continue what he called "the most amazing year" of his life.

The defending champion from Switzerland avoided arch rival and third seed Rafael Nadal in the main draw for the men's singles on Thursday, Spain's Nadal having been drawn in the same half as Britain's Andy Murray, the second seed.

Federer will bid for a sixth consecutive US Open title starting next Monday, looking to cap a year in which he became a father for the first time, to twin girls five weeks ago, regained his world number one ranking from Nadal, completed a career Grand Slam by winning a first French Open and then won Wimbledon to move past Pete Sampras with a record 15th Grand Slam victory.

He also proved he was still in peak form by brushing aside Murray and Novak Djokovic en route to the Cincinnati Masters title last weekend and Federer, 28, said he had no plans to let up.

"If I look back at which is the most amazing year of my life this is definitely it," Federer said before the draw ceremony in Manhattan.

"I have a wife, we've been together now nine years and we're very proud parents now, two sweet girls and also with the success on court I couldn't have planned it better.

"Winning my first French Open championship, and then getting the 15th (grand slam) at Wimbledon the way I did against (Andy) Roddick in the final, it was an amazing summer and I'm still playing very well.

"I played great in Cincinnati and I hope things are also going to go well here at the US Open."

Federer spoke with pride at the way he returned to form in 2009 having surrendered his Wimbledon title to Nadal during a problematic 2008.

"I had some issues last year, with illness at the start of the year and then my back prevented from playing at my very best at the end of last year and the beginning of this year.

"But still, I hung in there and was hopeful the better times would come round and I always kept working hard and in the end success came back.

"We also had crisis in the financial world and I also went through a little bit of a crisis by dropping to number two in the world," Federer joked. "People were writing me off which was kind of difficult to understand at times but I bounced back and hope the same happens to the economy."

Top seed Federer will begin his bid for a sixth straight US Open title against American wild card Devin Britton with Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, seeded 31, a possible third-round opponent, American James Blake (21) or Spain's Tommy Robredo (14) in round four and eighth seed Nikolay Davydenko a potential obstacle in the last eight.

The bottom quarter of Federer's half of the draw is highlighted by fourth seed Novak Djokovic, who was beaten by the world number one in the Cincinnati final, and fifth seed Roddick, the American who took the Swiss to a 30th game in the final set of the Wimbledon men's singles final before eventually losing out 16-14.

Murray's bid to reach a second consecutive US Open final was made harder when the British star was handed a difficult draw.

The world number two and second seed lost in straight sets to Federer in his first Grand Slam final last September and he has once again been placed in the same half of the draw as Nadal, putting them in line for a repeat of last year's semi-final, when the Spaniard was beaten in a match drawn out over two days due to heavy rain in New York.

To reach Nadal, who is seeking a first US Open title and with it a career grand slam at age 23, Murray will first have to have to go through the big-hitting Ivo Karlovic, Marin Cilic and Juan Martin del Potro if he is to get to the business end of the championship.

The Scot's first-round opponent will be Latvia's Ernests Gulbis, against whom he has a 3-0 record, their last meeting coming in the second round at Wimbledon when Murray won in straight sets.

Croatia's Karlovic is a potential third round opponent, and either Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka, seeded 19, or No.16 Cilic, another Croatian, could face Murray in round four.

Argentina's rising talent del Potro is Murray's possible quarter-final opponent with Nadal seeded to face him in the last four.