French Open 2014: Andy Murray drawn against Andrey Golubev as he prepares for Roland Garros return

Murray missed last years tournament and has been drawn in the same half as Rafael Nadal and Stanislas Wawrinka

Andy Murray will take on Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev in his first French Open match for two years.

The Wimbledon champion, seeded seventh, missed the tournament last year because of the back problems that eventually saw him undergo surgery last September.

Murray was placed in the same half as eight-time champion Rafael Nadal, while Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka is a potential quarter-final opponent.

Murray and Golubev have only met once before in a tour event, in the final in St Petersburg in 2008, which the Scot won 6-1 6-1.

Golubev, 26, is ranked 55 but has been as high as 33 and beat Wawrinka in Davis Cup in April.

Should Murray get past the Kazakh, he will play either Australia's Marinko Matosevic or German-Jamaican Dustin Brown, while talented German Philipp Kohlschreiber is the first seed he could face in round three.

Defending champion Nadal will play American wild card Robby Ginepri first up, and could meet exciting young Austrian Dominic Thiem in the second round.

In the bottom half, second seed Novak Djokovic meets Joao Sousa of Portugal while Roger Federer, his potential semi-final opponent, plays Lukas Lacko.

In the women's draw, reigning champion Serena Williams plays France's Alize Lim, her friend from Patrick Mouratoglou's academy - not that the American realised the significance.

Lim wrote on Twitter: "So 5 minutes ago I was in the locker room speaking to Serena, asked her "oh did you make the draw, who do I play ?!" She told me no I don't look at the draw."

Williams could play sister Venus in the third round but she has a very tricky opener against 17-year-old Swiss Belinda Bencic, last year's junior champion.

Serena is also seeded to face a rematch with Maria Sharapova, who she beat in last year's final, in the last eight.

The women's second seed is Australian Open champion Li Na, who meets Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic in round one.

Play at the second grand slam of the year begins at Roland Garros on Sunday.

PA