'Now I love everything about it, especially the city and the fans here. They definitely helped, especially last year (to beat Andy Murray in the final).'

Federer called the Open 'one of the toughest to win.'

'Everybody is going for the last Grand Slam of the season, everybody can play on hard courts. Nobody has excuses that they never played on hard courts, because that's the majority of the surface,' he said.

'That's where I think it's really difficult to win here. You rarely see surprises at the US Open, I guess just because we're into a full season, this is what everybody's match tough and fit, fit to go, and it makes it difficult to win here.'

Federer is looking far back in ancient tennis history as he aims for a sixth straight title in New York. Should he succeed, he would become the first man since Bill Tilden in 1925 to collect a sixth successive New York title and just the fourth man in history to win the same Grand Slam title for six straight years.

The 28-year-old is hoping to complete the Wimbledon-US Open double for the fifth time.