Federer, Nadal, Djokovic. Roger, Rafa, Novak. Six words that have defined an era and changed a sport. There is no comparison in any other sport where the careers of three players, possessing such breathtaking yet different qualities, overlapped to elevate their chosen field to levels that seemed impossible before their arrival.

Tennis’s big three, with hundreds of titles, including a total of 63 Grand Slam singles crowns, have surveyed the landscape from the summit of tennis, like three mythical gods of graphite and gut.

Many have tried to topple them. Andy Murray clawed his way up the face of the mountain but couldn’t quite stay on top long enough to enter the same pantheon.

Stan Wawrinka, Juan Martín del Potro, Marin Čilić and Milos Raonic briefly threatened to challenge the hierarchy, but quickly fell off the cliff.

And then a new breed arrived, raised on watching the exploits of the big three. These were the guys who supposedly would end the reign of the gods of tennis.

Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem, Grigor Dimitrov, Nick Kyrgios and even Stefanos Tsitsipas were touted to scale to the mountain and dominate in the same way. It didn’t happen and it’s not going to for them.

Even the most recent world No 1, Daniil Medvedev (who will lose his No 1 ranking this week), winner of the 2021 US Open and runner-up at the 2022 Australian Open, doesn’t look capable of the same dominance.

That generation of players, now in their mid- to late-20s, have missed the chance to claim their place among the greats of the game. And it falls to two players, who really do appear to have what it takes to take on the baton held by the big three, and set up another rivalry for the ages.

 Passion and precision

Carlos Alcaraz, the fiery, brilliant 19-year-old Spaniard, is the most complete player of his age for generations. He has everything, including a tungsten mind.

Alcaraz plays with power and extraordinary athleticism. His court coverage verges on superhuman. He has everything in his locker, including time, to dominate the game for a decade or more.

Earlier this year Alcaraz beat Nadal, Djokovic and Zverev on consecutive days to win the Madrid Open, earning himself a fourth title of 2022.

He is the only man ever to beat Nadal and Djokovic on consecutive days on clay.

He also won the 2022 Miami Open for his first Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Masters 1000 title (the rung below Grand Slams).

Alcaraz is coached by 2003 French Open winner and former world No 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero. The coach said of his prodigious charge: “It is difficult to compare anyone to Federer, of course, but if I had to say one name [in comparison to Carlos], it is Roger’s.

“I’m looking for somebody that is very aggressive and is able to do a lot of things on the court, and Roger is the best in these situations. He can play on any surface and can play any type of style.”

And it seems that the only player with the same potential is 21-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner. The tall, rangy Sinner plays with precision and quiet steel. He seems unflappable and has all the weapons to win on every surface.

The pair clashed in an epic five-hour, 30-minute US Open quarterfinal last week, which ended at 2:50am local time in New York. It was a match of such jaw-dropping quality that it was impossible to come away with any feeling other than that we had seen the future of men’s tennis.

Alcaraz advanced after saving match points in the fourth set and coming back from a break in the fifth set. It was a triumph of will as much as anything.

Changing of the guard

It set up a semifinal against Frances Tiafoe, the 24-year-old American with a great rags-to-riches story. Tiafoe himself is an excellent player, but whether his US Open performance is the start of a winning period, or a huge spike in a good career so far, is unclear.

Norway’s Casper Ruud, another solid player approaching his mid-20s who is rising up the rankings, faced Russian Karen Khachanov in the other semi. The US Open will have a new winner and, of the remaining four, Alcaraz was the favourite.

Tiafoe is coached by South Africa’s Wayne Ferreira, who reached a career-high sixth in his heyday.

“It doesn’t get any easier,” Ferreira told the media after Alcaraz’s win over Sinner. “There is a new generation with Sinner and Alcaraz coming out. These guys are the best in the world at the moment, how they play – Alcaraz in particular.”

Sinner has already won six ATP titles, played in the ATP Finals and been ranked in the top 10, all before his 21st birthday.

Sinner’s father is a chef and his mother a server at a resort near the Austrian border. They know about hard work, and Sinner has inherited those traits.

“It’s all part of the process. I don’t want to rush myself, but I think I can be proud of what I am doing, so hopefully I keep this up,” Sinner told ATPTour.com.

“It’s just [about] working hard and [believing]. That’s the only thing I can say. Especially in the tough times … and maybe when you have a tough loss or [something], the day after you are going on court and practicing,” he said.

“I go on court because I like to play tennis. It’s not because I have to play. I go because I really love to play tennis.”

The outcome at Flushing Meadows, coupled with Alcaraz and Sinner’s rise, certainly indicates a shift in tennis’s hierarchical battle. It might not be the end of Djokovic and Nadal in particular (Federer hasn’t played for more than a year because of a knee injury), but change is coming.

And it’s coming in the form of Alcaraz and Sinner. DM

This story first appeared in our DM168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R25.