Carlos Alcaraz sets Holger Rune quarterfinal, while his younger brother gets a selfie with Jannik Sinner

WATCH: Holger Rune recounts playing doubles with Carlos Alcaraz as 14-Year-Olds | Wimbledon

While the decades-long Big 3 era of the Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal (injured) and Roger Federer (retired) hegemony is fast becoming just the Djokovic era, a NextGen rivalry has emerged at just the right time as a regular ATP Tour subplot.

The upcoming generation’s new Big 3-in-waiting are 20-year-olds Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune, who will meet in the Wimbledon quarterfinals on Wednesday, and 21-year-old Jannik Sinner, who faces Russian world No. 92 Roman Safiullin on Tuesday.

The trio are the youngest members of the ATP’s Top 10, and have already entertained tennis fans with their closely contested matches: Alcaraz and Rune split their previous two meetings, Alcaraz and Sinner’s head-to-head is level at 3-3, while Rune leads Sinner 2-0.

Tennis’ exciting new trio has officially landed, and they are bringing both star power and marketability. All three wear Rolex timepieces, Sinner is a Gucci ambassador, Alcaraz was recently announced as an ambassador for Louis Vuitton, while Rune has been followed by Netflix cameras for the upcoming season of Break Point.

But only Alcaraz has been ranked world No. 1, and he’s the only owns a Grand Slam title too, breaking through at the US Open last year. When a journalist at Wimbledon asked him if he would be considered the best of his generation, Alcaraz shut down the notion and said their best was still to come.

“I don't feel that I'm the best of my generation,” Alcaraz told press last week. “I mean, Sinner is there. Rune, as well. They are playing at a great level…

“There are a lot of great players in my age [group] that each are there right now. We are going to share great moments. That's all I can say right now.”

They’ve already achieved one great moment in their history: All three have advanced to the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam for the first time. Continuing tennis’ long tradition of cordial rivalries, it’s another bonus that the trio appears to get along great.

Case in point: Last year, in Alcaraz’s first trip to the second week at Wimbledon and on his Centre Court debut, it was Sinner who sent him crashing out of the tournament with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-3 defeat. But there’s clearly no hard feelings, as the Spaniard’s younger brother Jamie, an up-and-coming tennis player himself, recently shared an Instagram photo grinning in a selfie with the Italian.

Alcaraz and Rune get on great as well, having played both against each other as opponents and together as doubles partners since their days as junior. They will add a Wimbledon quarterfinal battle to their growing list of shared tennis memories when they meet on Wednesday.

“I'm really excited about this match,” Alcaraz said. “We shared a lot of great moments. We played together since we were 12 years old.

“We've not texted each other, but obviously we know each other really well. Yeah, I'm really excited about it. I think he's the same.”

On Monday, top seed Alcaraz defeated 2021 finalist Matteo Berrettini in four sets, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time, while No. 6 seed Rune edged past No. 21 seed Grigor Dimitrov 3-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4), 6-3 to advance.