Each January, Melbourne becomes tennis-crazy and this year was no exception, with more spectators flooding through the gates to the Australian Open than ever before.

But while the public flocked to see their favourite tennis stars in action, two of those stars took a break from the courts to visit our Melbourne restaurants for something to fuel their fire.

Spanish Men’s Singles champion (2009), Rafael Nadal, along with his coaching team, paid a visit to The Robert Burns Hotel in Collingwood on January 24, no doubt to indulge in a little Spanish hospitality from venue manager José Ortega and his team.

On the other side of the city, and much closer to the courts, it was no surprise to the team at The Botanical when Novak Djokovic, five time winner of the Men’s Singles title at the Australian Open showed up on the day of his quarter final match, and then again the day after winning the Men’s Singles 2015 title. Djokovic even thanked the management who, as luck would have it, were having a meeting at the venue at the time. The star said he had been dropping into The Bot for a meal for the past five years – something that hadn’t gone unnoticed, only this time we asked for a photo! That’s him with The Botanical’s venue manager, Peter Baker.