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.

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.

Quick Guide French Open 2019: Women's singles draw Show 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.

Quick Guide French Open 2019: Men's singles draw Show 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.