Other Australians who face seeded rivals in the first round are in-form Walton (French No.22 Ugo Humbert), Hijikata (Italy’s No.32 Luciano Darderi), Gibson (Polish No.28 Magdalena Frech), and Birrell (American No.8 Amanda Anisimova).
Fast-rising teenager Joint, who was born in Michigan but has an Australian father, must negotiate a qualifier before potentially taking on the winner between Birrell and Wimbledon runner-up Anisimova.
The world No.42 made her grand slam debut at last year’s US Open, reaching the second round while still an amateur. That meant Joint, 19, missed out on the lion’s share of her more than $200,000 prizemoney before foregoing her college eligibility to turn professional shortly afterwards.
Maya Joint is one of Australia’s and the world’s rising tennis stars.Credit: Getty Images for LTA
She is one of only three teenagers in the top 50 on the women’s side.
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Thompson, who has played just one tournament since Wimbledon because of a back injury, starts against tempestuous Frenchman Corentin Moutet, while Vukic and Schoolkate take on American Jenson Brooksby and Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego, respectively.
Popyrin, who briefly made his top-20 debut before his ranking points dropped off from his historic Canadian Open triumph, will face Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori in the first round.
Ruusuvuori is a former world No.37 who took almost five months off last year to focus on his mental health and is using a protected ranking to compete at the US Open.
Popyrin won his only previous clash with four-time grand slam champion Sinner in straight sets at the 2021 Madrid Masters on clay, long before the Italian morphed into the world’s most dominant player.
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The Australian has not played since losing in three sets to Russian Andrey Rublev in a tight three-setter at Cincinnati a fortnight ago, after reaching the quarter-finals in Toronto before that.
Australia’s main draw presence could increase, with James Duckworth, Jason Kubler, Priscilla Hon, Destanee Aiava and former junior world No.1 Emerson Jones all one win from qualifying.
The US Open starts early Monday morning (AEST) and runs for 15 days.
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Watch every match of the US Open live and on demand on Stan Sport, with select coverage also available on Channel 9 and 9Now.