Edmund and Konta eye Roland Garros lift-off

KYLE Edmund will play Australian teenager Alex de Minaur in the first round of the French Open, which starts on Sunday.

The British No.1 is seeded 16th and, in the absence of the injured Andy Murray, carries his country’s best hopes of an extended run at Roland Garros after recently breaking into the world’s top 20 for the first time.

Britain’s other representative in the men’s singles, Cameron Norrie, has been rewarded for making a Grand Slam main draw for the first time by being paired with Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk.

Waving flag: Kyle Edmund will be Great Britain’s best hope

Defending champion Rafael Nadal is chasing an 11th title and will begin his campaign against Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov.

His great rival Novak Djokovic will hope to put injury and poor form behind him when he takes on a yet-to-be-decided qualifier.

British women’s No.1 Johanna Konta will also hope for better fortunes after a disappointing start to the year when she faces first-round opponent Yulia Putintseva from Kazakhstan.

Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko will open her defence against Ukrainian Kateryna Kozlova and Britain’s other representative in the women’s singles’ draw, World No.86 Heather Watson, faces France’s Oceane Dodin.

Former World No.1 Serena Williams, unseeded and making her first Slam appearance since the 2017 Australian Open after giving birth to her daughter, faces World No.6 Karolina Pliskova.

World No.1 Simona Halep faces American Alison Riske.