Nadal, Halep bring their best to the Madrid player party
Top stars from both tours—including reigning world No. 1s Rafael Nadal and Simona Halep—stepped out at the Madrid Open player party, almost all wearing black.
One notable exception to the black-clothing rule was Grigor Dimitrov, who always finds a way to stand out.
A couples appearance was made by Dominic Thiem and Kristina Mladenovic, who both made the final round in Madrid last year. Thiem has the additional honor of being the last player to defeat Nadal on clay, in Rome almost a year ago.
Feliciano Lopez, who will become the Madrid Open tournament director in 2019, starts his campaign on Monday against recent Marrakech champion Pablo Andujar.
Halep won her first-round match on Sunday by beating Ekaterina Makarova 6-1, 6-0.
She's also the defending champion, looking to win the title for a third consecutive time.
