The ITF's Katrina Adams stays on the front lines for women with the Tory Burch Foundation Sports Fellowship

Once a player reaches the professional level very little separates the major champions from the qualifiers scraping to get a chance to compete in a Grand Slam. Frances Tiafoe opened up about how anyone can beat anyone at this level after taking a 6-4, 2-6, 6-7 (6), 4-6 loss to Felix Auger-Aliassime in the US Open's Round of 16.

"Like look, you know, I'm 50 in the world. I'm beating all these kind of guys. You have qualifiers in the round of 16. In tennis there's no bums, everyone is good," he told press.

After quickly looking over Tiafoe's latest results, this definitely holds truth. In his last tournament he lost to solid baseliner Mikael Ymer who is ranked No. 90. However, just two months ago at Wimbledon, the American upset world No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the opening round with a seamless 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 scoreline. If players don't come ready to play they could end up taking a loss to a player they are supposed to beat on paper.

However with only one Big 3 player vying for this year's US Open trophy, he thinks players are picking up their games and pushing extra hard in New York. Because although anyone may be able to beat anyone, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal dominate the sport.

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A qualifier named Botic van de Zandschulp took out No. 11 seed Diego Schwartzman in an epic five set battle. And, coming into the event the Dutchman had only claimed five tour-level wins. Then there's 18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz who's through to the quarterfinals, taking out Tsitsipas along the way.

Also, Andreas Seppi caught Tiafoe's eye.

"I mean guys are trying extra hard because there's no Roger, Rafa. I truly believe that. I even get to see like guys foaming at the mouth. It's pretty funny to watch. I'm in the locker room just cracking up.

You have Seppi like 37, playing 15, 13 in the fifth. What's that about? Crazy. His 19th US Open, he's putting his heart on the line. He's probably not doing that if he's playing like Rafa second round," he said.

Tiafoe said the energy is unreal and by the looks of it more incredible storylines are in the works.

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