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Ever notice that whenever the draw gods have spoken to determine the matchups in any given tournament, pundits fall all over themselves to find the name "David Nalbandian," and then proceed to proclaim that any high seed anywhere near him may be doomed?

This time, it's Juan Martin del Potro, Nalbandian's countryman and the No. 7 seed (and recent Olympic Games bronze medalist) at the U.S. Open.

Is there a shocking upset in the offing? Don't hold your breath.

Nalbandian's best win since Indian Wells has been a triumph over No. 38 Albert Ramos, and this "dangerous floater" has won exactly one match since the end of Wimbledon. That was just the other day in Winston-Salem, but the former Wimbledon finalist was promptly stopped by Alexandr Dolgopolov.

Now there's a more worthy "dangerous floater" for you. Dolgopolov is up to No. 15 in the ATP rankings, and he recently won at Washington (defeating Tommy Haas). That ought to raise a red flag for No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic. The fleet and mercurial "Dog" could meet Nole in the fourth round.

Let's look at some of the other dangerous floaters in the two main singles draws:

Men
Thomaz Bellucci is a talented left-hander who's just 24 and ranked No. 40, but his swinging serve and attacking style is well-suited to hard courts. Granted, he's one of the outstanding head cases on tour, but he had a great post-Wimbledon run at Gstaad, beating (in succession) Mikhail Youzhny, Feliciano Lopez, Grigor Dimitrov and Janko Tipsarevic.

OK, it was on clay. But he's no more a "clay-courter" than the man he lost to in two highly competitive recent matches, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (No. 5 seed in the U.S. Open). Bellucci could make No. 3 seed Andy Murray's life complicated in the third round.

Brian Baker hit a speed bump in his high-speed comeback once he returned from European clay, and his hard-court proficiency is yet to be demonstrated. But his game ought to match up well with the seed blocking his path to the third round, No. 8 Tipsarevic.

Nikolay Davydenko is another player who's seen the elephant. He's been in back-to-back semifinals, set up shop in the top 10 for a long time and he's 31 -- the same age as Roger Federer. Although Davydenko is ranked No. 48 and stumbled out of Winston-Salem early this week (lost to Haas), he's had some solid wins on cement recently and could find his inspiration again in New York.

Women
At this time last year, No. 43 Andrea Petkovic was on the point of the current German resurgence. She cracked the top 10 in 2011, but back problems have kept her off the tour since Stuttgart in late April. She's lacking match play but won her first-round struggle with Timea Babos this week in New Haven. That has to be encouraging. She could meet No. 11 seed Marion Bartoli in the second round.

Daniela Hantuchova blows hot and cold, but she is always dangerous, especially on hard courts. She's a two-time winner of the combined event in Indian Wells. Her first-round opponent is 21-year-old No. 17 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who is sometimes following Hantuchova down the head-case trail. Pavlyuchenkova has shown signs of overcoming her recent slump, but Hantuchova could be a tough first round for her.

Sloane Stephens is No. 46, and developing rapidly. (She's still just 19.) If I were to pick an upset special for Round 1, it would be Stephens over No. 22 seed Francesca Schiavone, the former French Open champion. Although Schiavone has had some good results at the U.S. Open, she's 32 and hasn't played all that well since Wimbledon.

Yaroslava Shvedova could be a fourth-round stumbling block for No. 2 seed Agnieszka Radwanska. When she's feeling it, Shvedova can just crush the ball, as she showed at Wimbledon when she recorded the first "golden set" (6-0, without the loss of a point) on the WTA Tour. And she pulled that on the recent French Open finalist and high seed, game counterpuncher Sara Errani.

The other seeds in that eighth of the draw are Dominika Cibulkova (13), Roberta Vinci (20) and former No. 1 and U.S. Open finalist Jelena Jankovic (30). Cibulkova probably is the toughest in that group.

Oh, and lest we forget, Venus Williams is unseeded and could meet No. 6 seed Angelique Kerber in the second round. That's a tough assignment for Williams, who lost to the hard-charging German in the third round of the Olympic Games. But Venus, now ranked No. 47, then went to Cincinnati and beat three top-15 players, including defending U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur, before she was halted in the final by Li Na.

It's a mark of the increasing quality in the WTA that these are just a few of the dangerous floaters in a draw that's chockablock with potentially hazardous matches for seeds. Their male counterparts can rest more easily, especially if all they have to worry about is David Nalbandian.