Katie Boulter makes surprise return in French Open draw after withdrawing

Rafael Nadal could hardly have asked for an easier entry into the French Open – two qualifiers to lift his spirits while Novak Djokovic has a far tougher time of it at the other end of the draw. But the real conundrum of the draw ceremony on Thursday night was the surprise appearance of Katie Boulter, only 17 days after announcing her withdrawal.

There were more than a few gasps when Boulter’s name popped up on the screen against that of Donna Vekic, when it was assumed she was still resting after aggravating a back injury during Great Britain’s Federation Cup win over Kazakhstan in London last month. There was no immediate explanation for her reappearance although it seems she might have left her name in the draw accidentally.

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If so – presuming she has not made a remarkable recovery and does actually play – she will have some explaining to do. As it stands, she will receive about £20,000, half of the first-round prize money, and that will not go down well with the rest of the field.

Definitely starting is Johanna Konta, who has lost four times on the spin here but has been gifted a qualifier in the first round. However, in the third round she could play Kiki Bertens, whom she beat in the semi-finals in Rome before losing in the final. It would be a fascinating rematch.

Naomi Osaka (1) v Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
Jelena Ostapenko v Victoria Azarenka
Qualifier v Katerina Siniakova 
Anna Tatishvili v Maria Sakkari (29) 
Caroline Garcia (24) v Mona Barthel 
Qualifier v Margarita Gasparyan
Qualifier v Priscilla Hon
Evgeniya Rodina v Madison Keys (14) 

Serena Williams (10) v Vitalia Diatchenko
Qualifier v Dalila Jakupovic
Qualifier v Sofia Kenin
Qualifier v Bianca Vanessa Andreescu (22)
Su-Wei Hsieh (25) v Viktorija Golubic
Alison Riske v Andrea Petkovic
Danielle Collins v Tatjana Maria
Jessica Pegula v Ashleigh Barty (8) 

Simona Halep (3) v Ajla Tomljanovic
Chloe Paquet v Magda Linette
Daria Gavrilova v Aleksandra Krunic
Eugenie Bouchard v Lesia Tsurenko (27) 
Daria Kasatkina (21) v Qualifier
Monica Puig v Kirsten Flipkens
Iga Swiatek v Selena Janicijevic
Saisai Zheng v Qiang Wang (16)

Aryna Sabalenka (11) v Dominika Cibulkova
Amanda Anisimova v Harmony Tan
Irina-Camelia Begu v Lin Zhu
Karolina Muchova v Anett Kontaveit (17) 
Mihaela Buzarnescu (30) v Ekaterina Alexandrova
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova v Samantha Stosur
Qualifier v Vera Zvonareva
Sorana Cirstea v Petra Kvitova (6) 

Sloane Stephens (7) v Misaki Doi
Sara Sorribes Tormo v Alison Van Uytvanck
Jennifer Brady v Ivana Jorovic
Polona Hercog v Aliaksandra Sasnovich (32) 
Garbiñe Muguruza (19) v Taylor Townsend
Magdalena Rybarikova v Johanna Larsson
Qualifier v Kateryna Kozlova
Venus Williams v Elina Svitolina (9)Belinda Bencic (15) v Jessika Ponchet
Laura Siegemund v Qualifier
Yulia Putintseva v Rebecca Peterson
Katie Boulter v Donna Vekic (23)
Johanna Konta (26) v Qualifier
Lauren Davis v Kristyna Pliskova
Viktoria Kuzmova v Alize Cornet
Pauline Parmentier v Kiki Bertens (4)

Angelique Kerber (5) v Anastasia Potapova 
Yafan Wang v Marketa Vondrousova
Astra Sharma v Shelby Rogers
Dayana Yastremska v Carla Suárez Navarro (28) 
Elise Mertens (20) v Tamara Zidansek
Diane Parry v Vera Lapko
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova v Mandy Minella
Luksika Kumkhum v Anastasija Sevastova (12)

Caroline Wozniacki (13) v Veronika Kudermetova
Zarina Diyas v Audrey Albie
Shuai Zhang v Qualifier
Kaia Kanepi v Julia Görges (18)
Petra Martic (31) v Ons Jabeur
Fiona Ferro v Kristina Mladenovic
Svetlana Kuznetsova v Qualifier
Madison Brengle v Karolina Pliskova (2)

The small British contingent are gathered in the same section of the men’s draw and Cam Norrie has by far the most intriguing opening match, against Nick Kyrgios. The Australian’s latest contributions to tennis have been more verbal than physical and he arrives in Paris having given up an almost certain seeding with his chair-throwing tantrum in Rome. Norrie, who has adapted to clay quickly over the past couple of years, will fancy his chances of an upset against an opponent who admits he often does not try as hard as he should.

The British No 1, Kyle Edmund, who has lost five matches in a row, plays the Frenchman Jérémy Chardy, never an easy assignment, especially on his home clay. Dan Evans, who has had a storming 12 months to rise 1,000 places in the rankings and is in the main draw by right, does not love the dirt but he should at least give Fernando Verdasco a good argument in the opening round.

Chatter about the €350m rebuilding of Court Philippe Chatrier (incomplete but impressive, with the roof to arrive next year, after 90 years as a monument to a French first world war hero) and the new court in the lovely adjoining garden – in memory of the former champion Simonne Mathieu – interrupted the clinking of champagne glasses on a warm summer’s night.

The minor expansion of the most cramped of the four majors has eased the long-held feeling of suffocation at Roland Garros and will also interest students of art and architecture.

The two champions, Rafael Nadal and Simona Halep, at the French Open draw.Photograph: Rob Prange/REX/Shutterstock

Of more interest to the wider audience, however, is how the championships may play out. There is the return of Roger Federer – who plays the Italian Lorenzo Sonego in the first round – the minor concern over Nadal, who looks in better shape than he did a few weeks ago to win his 12th title, as well as Djokovic, the world No 1 who has the toughest draw of the three.

Djokovic starts against the 22-year-old Pole Hubert Hurkacz – who this year hit a career-high ranking of 36 – and then he is headed for a difficult match against either the resurgent Italian Fabio Fognini or the mercurial Alexander Zverev in the quarters.

Novak Djokovic (1) v Hubert Hurkacz 
Sam Querrey v Qualifier 
Jaume Munar v Qualifier
Qualifier v Gilles Simon (26)
Denis Shapovalov (20) v Jan-Lennard Struff
Radu Albot v Qualifier
Lloyd Harris v Qualifier
Aljaz Bedene v Borna Coric (13)

Fabio Fognini (9) v Andreas Seppi
Qualifier v Federico Delbonis
Taylor Fritz v Bernard Tomic
Steve Johnson v Roberto Bautista Agut (21)
Dusan Lajovic (30) v Qualifier
Cameron Norrie v Nick Kyrgios
Qualifier v Qualifier
John Millman v Alexander Zverev (5) 

Dominic Thiem (4) v Tommy Paul
Qualifier v Alexander Bublik
Maxime Janvier v Pablo Cuevas
Jeremy Chardy v Kyle Edmund (28) 
Fernando Verdasco (23) v Dan Evans
Antoine Hoang v Damir Dzumhur
Qualifier v Adrian Mannarino
Taro Daniel v Gaël Monfils (14) 

Karen Khachanov (10) v Cedrik-Marcel Stebe
Gregoire Barrere v Matthew Ebden 
Martin Klizan v Mikhail Kukushkin
Qualifier v Lucas Pouille (22) 
Felix Auger-Aliassime (26) v Jordan Thompson
Ivo Karlovic v Feliciano López
Yoshihito Nishioka v MacKenzie McDonald
Nicolas Jarry v Juan Martín del Potro (8) 

Stefanos Tsitsipas (6) v Maximilian Marterer
Prajnesh Gunneswaran  v Hugo Dellien
Roberto Carballés Baena v Qualifier
Filip Krajinovic v Frances Tiafoe (32)
Stan Wawrinka (24) v Jozef Kovalik
Reilly Opelka v Christian Garin
Janko Tipsarevic v Grigor Dimitrov
Thomas Fabbiano v Marin Cilic (11) 

Marco Cecchinato (16) v Nicolas Mahut
Robin Haase v Philipp Kohlschreiber
Jiri Vesely v Leonardo Mayer
Marton Fucsovics v Diego Schwartzman (20) 
Matteo Berrettini (29) v Pablo Andújar 
Casper Ruud  v Ernests Gulbis
Malek Jaziri v Qualifier
Lorenzo Sonego v Roger Federer (3) 

Kei Nishikori (7) v Quentin Halys
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga v Peter Gojowczyk
Alexei Popyrin v Ugo Humbert
Albert Ramos-Viñolas v Laslo Djere (31) 
Alex De Minaur (21) v Bradley Klahn
Pablo Carreño Busta v João Sousa
Benoit Paire v Marius Copil
Pierre-Hugues Herbert v Daniil Medvedev (12)

Nikoloz Basilashvili (15) v Juan Ignacio Londero
Mischa Zverev v Richard Gasquet
Qualifier v Corentin Moutet
Guido Andreozzi v Guido Pella (19)
David Goffin (27) v Ricardas Berankis
Miomir Kecmanovic v Denis Kudla
Qualifier v Qualifier
Qualifier v Rafael Nadal (2)

Nadal, who emerged from his mini-slump to beat Djokovic in the Rome final at the weekend, looks in the mood to do more damage here, the slam that loves him. “I was very pleased with that victory, giving me confidence coming here,” the Spaniard said.

The three-times winner Serena Williams, who starts against Vitalia Diatchenko, could meet Bianca Andreescu in the third round although the outstanding Canadian teenager has not played for two months because of a shoulder injury.

Simona Halep, the defending champion, who plays Ajla Tomljanovic, said: “I played three finals here, and 2013 was really tough to lose it. It was great to lift this beautiful trophy finally, last year.”The world No 1, Naomi Osaka, whose form has swooped and dipped a few times lately but nevertheless she has won the past two majors, faces Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova.If she is fit and in the mood she will be more concerned about a possible showdown with either Jelena Ostapenko, who won the title here two years ago, or the two-times slam champion Victoria Azarenka, who meet in one of the standout starts to this tournament in recent years.