TENNIS ace Rafa Nadal is streets ahead of traditional heart-throbs such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Brad Pitt in the hunk stakes, according to a survey by hoteles.com.

Only Spaniards were interviewed, and the results suggest that home-grown talent is more popular than men born abroad, even those with washboard stomachs and Bondi Beach tans.

The survey targeted heterosexual girls and women only, so it has not been discovered yet whether the 'man from Manacor' is also a gay male icon.

Either way, the Mallorca-born superstar-on-clay's dramatic failure at Wimbledon last week has not stopped him from being the top male celebrity for 24.1 per cent of girls questioned, ahead of American actor Brad Pitt, the ideal man for 17.8 per cent of straight women.

'Love-him-or-hate-him' Portuguese footballer and Real Madrid star player Cristiano Ronaldo fared reasonably well in the research, dilating pupils in 13.4 per cent of girls who answered, despite his team's last-minute defeat against Spain in the recent Euro Cup.