Nadal, Djokovic and a loaded French Open draw

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have landed in a loaded half of the draw at Roland Garros.

The pair, who are widely tipped as the two favourites for the men’s title going into the tournament, are on track to square off in the semifinals. However, before they get there, Djokovic may have to find a way past in-form players David Goffin and Dominic Thiem, while Nadal has landed in the same quarter as big-serving Milos Raonic and streaky Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.

In a draw that threw up some intriguing opening round encounters, Nadal will face the mercurial Benoit Paire, while Djokovic will take on Spanish stalwart Marcel Granollers.

The other side of the men’s draw has been far ‘kinder’ to the big names, with out-of-sorts top seed Andy Murray due to play Andrew Kuznetsov in the first round, as part of a quarter that also contain Juan Martin del Potro, Kei Nishikori and Tomas Berdych.

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Meanwhile third seed, and 2015 champion, Stan Wawrinka opens his campaign against qualifier Jozef Kovalik. The Swiss star, who will play in the finals of the ATP 250 in Geneva on Saturday, has landed in a quarter with Marin Cilic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Nick Kyrgios.

Other stand-out first round men’s draws include Alexander Zverev against Fernando Verdasco, Gael Monfils v Dustin Brown, Nick Kyrgios v Philipp Kohlschreiber and Dominic Thiem against Bernard Tomic.

Garbine Muguruza has been handed a tricky start in the defence of her title. The Spaniard, who has been struggling for form in 2017, will open against 2010 champion Francesca Schiavone. Muguruza’s campaign won’t get any easier, having landed in a quarter that contains in-form Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic and Australian Open finalist Venus Williams.

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World No.1 Angelique Kerber will have an equally tricky task if she is to improve on a difficult start to the season. The German opens against difficult Russian Ekaterina Makarova, and could face returning favourite Petra Kvitova or Aussie Sam Stosur in the fourth round. After that comes Caroline Wozniacki or 2016 semifinalist Kiki Bertens, with a potential quarterfinal with Svetlana Kuznetsova.

The bottom half of the draw is no less loaded, with Elina Svitolina, Simona Halep and Madison Keys all landing in the same quarter. Meanwhile, world No.2 Karolina Pliskova has been given a favourable draw, with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova the only recognised clay courter in a quarter that contains Johanna Konta and an out-of-sorts Agnieszka Radwanska.