Marisa Grimes, USTA Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, on the importance of DEI in tennis

When she started at the USTA at the beginning of 2021, Grimes was tasked with rebuilding the DEI department and creating a new organizational strategy. The DEI department had existed for years and the USTA already had a solid understanding of diversity, equity and inclusion and its importance in doing business, but Grimes wanted to assess the current state of DEI internally and externally to identify the opportunities and challenges the organization faces as it tries to achieve its goal of “making tennis look like America.”

“We want to make sure that there's diverse representation that reflects the makeup of our country, and so that really is what making tennis look like America means. It's reflecting the diverse representation that's in our country,” Grimes said.

“We work to increase that representation amongst underrepresented groups, but we also want to make sure that our sport and the culture within our sport feels welcoming, feels inclusive and is open to everyone who wants to participate.”

“It was really meaningful, and it was also a way for us to honor the fact that the home of the US Open is in Queens, which has such a significant Asian population,” Grimes said. “It really was an amazing way for us to bring together all of those different elements in a really celebratory way that increased visibility for that community.

“I would say that the thing that really does make USTA and the work that we do here unique from anywhere that I've ever worked before is the US Open and being able to be part of an event that reaches so many people, but also offers such a great platform for our messages of inclusion.”

This year’s theme for Women’s History Month is “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion,” and Grimes is certainly making her mark. While she said it’s great for women in the field to receive this recognition, and for the importance of DEI to be acknowledged—especially when it comes to women’s advancement—it also feels like a given. 

Progress can be a challenging task as DEI is being met with a wide cultural backlash just a few years after the racial and wider societal reckonings of 2020, Grimes and the USTA DEI department—which was around long before 2020—are determined to make a positive impact on the tennis industry and communities nationwide.

“Our focus and our effort and our intention around DEI hasn't cooled off. We haven't pulled back, and these last three years we continue to make progress and we continue to accelerate our efforts,” Grimes said. “The USTA and tennis as an industry really has been committed to demonstrating that we want to be better as an organization, we want to be better as a sport, and we really, truly want to use tennis as a vehicle for positive good and for social impact. 

“For me to be in a position where I can influence that, I can impact change, and I can really use this as a platform for good means the world to me personally and professionally. And to see the progress that we've made, even just in the three years that I've been here, has been really incredible for me.”