Frances Tiafoe vs. Carlos Alcaraz: The battle of tennis' rising stars

By Matias Grez and Ben Church, CNN

Updated 1302 GMT (2102 HKT) September 9, 2022

Frances Tiafoe has been roared on by a raucous home crowd during his US Open run.

(CNN)For years, tennis fans have been fearing the day the sport's 'Big Three' all finally decide to hang up their rackets.

Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are unquestionably the three greatest players of all time — whichever order you have them in is down to personal preference — and their inevitable departures from the Tour will leave a hole no player will be able to fill.However, the rise of youngsters such as Daniil Medvedev, Alex Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas in recent years has provided enough evidence to suggest that there will be no lack of entertainment and drama once the 'Big Three' do finally decide to call it quits.This season, fans have seen another future superstar in Carlos Alcaraz emerge, while Frances Tiafoe, now 24 years old, has finally come of age at the US Open and earned the breakthrough at a grand slam that many have predicting for a couple of years now.Hailing from the region of Murcia in Spain and being a clay court specialist, Alcaraz has naturally drawn comparisons to his compatriot and idol Nadal.Read MoreBut while the 19-year-old has immense respect for the player he has looked up to during his childhood, Alcaraz has no desire to be dubbed «the next Nadal» or «mini Nadal,» as has happened on more than one occasion during his fledgling career.Instead, as he told CNN Sport back in March, he wants to carve out his own legacy and be known only as Alcaraz.READ: Carlos Alcaraz reaches first grand slam semifinal after marathon, late-night finish against Jannik SinnerCarlos Alcaraz came through a marathon quarterfinal against