Del Potro joins Murray on sidelines as Watson makes her comeback in Paris

The Argentinian former US Open champion follows Andy Murray in pulling out of the tournament, which begins on Sunday.

Del Potro made the quarter-finals of the French Open last year, losing to Roger Federer.

His clay-court season has not been one to remember, having failed to make an impact in Monaco and Rome, suffering early exits to Jarkko Nieminen and Benoit Paire, respectively.

Anne Keothavong’s French Open dreams ended at the first hurdle as the Briton lost her opening qualifier against Eva Birnerova at Roland Garros.

Keothavong, the British No 4 and currently ranked 190 in the world, slipped to a 3-6 6-3 6-0 defeat at the hands of her Czech opponent.

There was better news for British No 3 Johanna Konta, who progressed to the next stage of qualifying for the second grand slam of the year with a 6-1 6-3 triumph over China’s Saisai Zheng.

The main draw will be made tomorrow. British No 1 Laura Robson is assured of her place in the draw and is likely to be joined by Heather Watson, who is planning to make her comeback from two months out with glandular fever.

The last match Watson played was in Miami in March, but the 21-year-old returned will go into the tournament at Roland Garros in optimistic mood.

“Confident-ish. Two weeks ago, I started training. The first week was literally an hour a day to see how I felt and how my body reacted to it.

“Obviously, I reacted well and we have just kept stepping it up and up,” she said.

“I haven’t always needed too many matches to get ready.”