“He beat me easily last year,” Nadal said. "Obviously I was not at my top level. If I play well, I play long, I play to the side — that's what I have to do. If it's not like this, it will be almost impossible to win over Robin, because he's playing amazing level. He's very aggressive, and it's very difficult to stop him. I have to play my best tennis, and that's what I gonna try to do.”

It was Nadal who was responsible for spreading the word about the family-run restaurant's legendary pasta among the tennis elite.

"It all started with Nadal," Esposito said.

"He came by a few years ago and then he told everyone.

"We have had everyone eat here - Bono, Zidane, Roman Polanksi.

"We are the best Italian restaurant in Paris."