French Open women's singles draw: Petra Kvitova to play at Roland Garros

After a couple of days spent practising in Paris, Kvitova put her name forward for Friday’s draw and she landed in the top section close to Kerber.

The two-time Wimbledon champion will play Julia Boserup in her first match of 2017.

Her racquet hand - the left - was cut during a burglary at her apartment in Prostejov in December and she only returned to the practice courts earlier this month.

The 27-year-old's hand is still not 100 per cent, but simply being able to walk out on court for her first-round match represents a hugely-significant victory.

Kvitova, her voice wavering, said: "Not many people believed that I can play tennis again. So I'm happy that I can play.

"I actually already won my biggest fight. I'm happy that I like challenges. I stayed in life and I have all my fingers, I can play tennis and I can be here and be in the draw.

"And I'm really looking forward to my match. When I watch some (tennis) on the TV, I didn't really feel great. I felt like tennis was taken away from me, and it wasn't my decision. Suddenly I couldn't do what I love. I see life a little bit from a different angle now."

Kvitova was unable to talk about the attack because a police investigation remains ongoing, with the perpetrator still at large.

But remarkably there do not appear to be too many mental scars.

She said: "I didn't sleep well the days after, but I wasn't really staying alone. I have been always with my family or with my coaches or with friends, which I need to say thank you to them, because they were really incredible, and they still are.

"I don't really have nightmares. From the beginning I was feeling really weird when I went in the city or somewhere. I was always staring at the guys and looking if there are strangers there.

"But with time, it's better. But of course I'm more more actively watching the people around me."

Kerber is seeded to face former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarter-finals and last year’s winner Garbine Muguruza in the last four. The top seed, who has struggled to replicate last season's form so far this year, faces a tricky opener against Ekaterina Makarova, who has been a Grand Slam semi-finalist in the past.

Muguruza also faces an intriuguing first-round clash – against 2010 champion Francesca Schiavone.

Title favourite Simona Halep is in the opposite half of the draw, seeded to meet second seed Karolina Pliskova in the semi-finals.

Briton Johanna Konta, seeded seventh, is in Pliskova’s quarter, with Halep on course to meet the in-form Elina Svitolina, champion in Rome last weekend, in the quarter-finals.

Konta will begin her campaign against Su-wei Hsieh with Taylor Townsend or qualifier Miyu Kato awaiting in round two. The first seed she can meet is France's Caroline Garcia and that could be followed by a clash with Agnieszka Radwanska.

That will be seen as a decent draw for a player not completely at home on clay.

With Heather Watson losing in the final qualifying round on Friday, Konta will be Britain's only representative in the women's draw.

Providing she recovers from an ankle injury sustained in the Rome final against Svitolina, Halep’s first match will be against Slovakia's Jana Cepelova.

The draw was missing two of the biggest names in the women's game.

Serena Williams, a three-time winner in Paris, is curently pregnant and not expected to play again until next season, while Maria Sharapova was not offered a wild card into the event - one she needed in order to play due to her 15-month drugs ban which was completed only after the entry cut-off point.

The main-draw action gets under way on Sunday. 

Projected quarter-finals:

Kerber v Kuznetsova
Cibulkova v Muguruza
Halep v Svitolina
Konta v Pliskova

Full French Open women's singles draw:

(seedings in brackets):

Angelique Kerber (Ger) (1) v Ekaterina Makarova (Rus)
Lesia Tsurenko (Ukr) v Kateryna Kozlova (Ukr)
Louisa Chirico (USA) v Jelena Ostapenko (Lat)
Monica Puig (Pur) v Roberta Vinci (Ita) (31)

Samantha Stosur (Aus) (23) v Kristina Kucova (Svk)
Kirsten Flipkens (Bel) v Mandy Minella (Lux)
Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) v Evgeniya Rodina (Rus)
Julia Boserup (USA) v Petra Kvitova (Cze) (15)

Caroline Wozniacki (Den) (11) v Jaimee Fourlis (Aus)
Francoise Abanda (Can) v Tessah Andrianjafitrimo (Fra)
CiCi Bellis (USA) v Quirine Lemoine (Ned)
Ajla Tomljanovic (Cro) v Kiki Bertens (Ned) (18)

Shuai Zhang (Chn) (32) v Donna Vekic (Cro)
Viktorija Golubic (Swi) v Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Blr)
Camila Giorgi (Ita) v Oceane Dodin (Fra)
Christina McHale (USA) v Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) (8)

Garbine Muguruza (Spa) (4) v Francesca Schiavone (Ita)
Anett Kontaveit (Est) v Monica Niculescu (Rom)
Johanna Larsson (Swe) v Natalia Vikhlyantseva (Rus)
Myrtille Georges (Fra) v Yulia Putintseva (Kaz) (27)

Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (Cro) (22) v Cagla Buyukakcay (Tur)
Marina Erakovic (Nzl) v Shelby Rogers (USA)
Sara Errani (Ita) v Misaki Doi (Jpn)
Jennifer Brady (USA) v Kristina Mladenovic (Fra) (13)

Venus Williams (USA) (10) v Qiang Wang (Chn)
Amanda Anisimova (USA) v Kurumi Nara (Jpn)
Jelena Jankovic (Ser) v Richel Hogenkamp (Ned)
Elise Mertens (Bel) v Daria Gavrilova (Aus) (24)

Timea Bacsinszky (Swi) (30) v Sara Sorribes Tormo (Spa)
Madison Brengle (USA) v Julia Goerges (Ger)
Ons Jabeur (Tun) v Ana Bogdan (Rom)
Lara Arruabarrena (Spa) v Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) (6)

Elina Svitolina (Ukr) (5) v Yaroslava Shvedova (Kaz)
Mona Barthel (Ger) v Tsvetana Pironkova (Bul)
Alize Lim (Fra) v Magda Linette (Pol)
Danka Kovinic (Mne) v Ana Konjuh (Cro) (29)

Anastasija Sevastova (Lat) (17) v Annika Beck (Ger)
Risa Ozaki (Jpn) v Eugenie Bouchard (Can)
Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) v Petra Martic (Cro)
Ashleigh Barty (Aus) v Madison Keys (USA) (12)

Elena Vesnina (Rus) (14) v Beatriz Haddad Maia (Bra)
Varvara Lepchenko (USA) v Andrea Petkovic (Ger)
Sorana Cirstea (Rom) v Shuai Peng (Chn)
Maria Sakkari (Gre) v Carla Suarez Navarro (Spa) (21)

Daria Kasatkina (Rus) (26) v Yanina Wickmayer (Bel)
Marketa Vondrousova (Cze) v Amandine Hesse (Fra)
Ying-Ying Duan (Chn) v Tatjana Maria (Ger)
Jana Cepelova (Svk) v Simona Halep (Rom) (3)

Johanna Konta (Gbr) (7) v Su-Wei Hsieh (Tpe)
Miyu Kato (Jpn) v Taylor Townsend (USA)
Chloe Paquet (Fra) v Kristyna Pliskova (Cze)
Nao Hibino (Jpn) v Caroline Garcia (Fra) (28)

Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Cze) (20) v Alison Riske (USA)
Alize Cornet (Fra) v Timea Babos (Hun)
Naomi Osaka (Jpn) v Alison van Uytvanck (Bel)
Fiona Ferro (Fra) v Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) (9)

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) (16) v Patricia Maria Tig (Rom)
Veronica Cepede Royg (Par) v Lucie Safarova (Cze)
Mariana Duque-Marino (Col) v Irina-Camelia Begu (Rom)
Magdalena Rybarikova (Svk) v Coco Vandeweghe (USA) (19)

Lauren Davis (USA) (25) v Carina Witthoeft (Ger)
Irina Khromacheva (Rus) v Pauline Parmentier (Fra)
Ekaterina Alexandrova (Rus) v Katerina Siniakova (Cze)
Saisai Zheng (Chn) v Karolina Pliskova (Cze) (2)