The 2014 U.S. Open tennis tournament, the final Grand Slam event of the year, will kick off on Monday at Flushing Meadows in New York City.

Novak Djokovic, who was named as this year's top seed, will open his campaign against Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, and the current world No. 1 is not expected to have a problem dealing with his first-round opponent.

Djokovic will be a heavy favorite to win the title this year after defending champion Rafael Nadal pulled out of the tournament due to a wrist injury.

The 27-year-old Serb, the 2011 U.S. Open champion, admitted that the complexion of the upcoming tournament changed when Nadal announced his decision to withdraw from the event.

"When Rafa is not around it changes everything," Djokovic, who finished runner-up in the last two editions of the tournament, said via The Guardian. "But, on the other side, we have all the other best players in the world here"

Djokovic also played down the "favorite" tag, saying that winning big tournaments nowadays is harder than before because of the good amount of players capable of pulling off big upsets.

"It's very open," Djokovic said. "Nowadays the competition level is higher. You have players around 15 and 20 in the world, and the quality of the tennis they are playing is higher than five years ago, in my opinion. That makes it hard to win this tournament."

Djokovic's possible semi-final opponent, Stan Wawrinka, the reigning Australian Open champion, will also begin his quest for another Grand Slam title on Monday against Jiri Vesely of Czech Republic.

On the women's side, fifth-seeded Maria Sharapova, one of the strong contenders this year, will also begin her campaign against fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko, while second-seeded Simona Halep will face Danielle Rose Collins of USA in the opening match at the Arthur Ashe Stadium that is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. EST.

The Sharapova-Kirilenko match will start at 7 p.m. EST at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, followed by the Djokovic-Schwartzman showdown. The complete schedule is available on the official 2014 U.S. Open website.

Tennis fans can catch the action via US Open Live, Tennis Channel Live, WatchESPN and CBSSports streaming.

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