As we round out this weekend series on innovation, we are examining one last quote from Albert Einstein that can inform our upcoming journey of reimagining and reshaping the tennis delivery systems. Creativity and curiosity are essential ingredients in driving change. However, the most important attribute of all may be persistence. Innovation rarely occurs as a singular flash of inspiration. More often, it’s a long and arduous process of grinding it out.
It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.
Albert Einstein
Perseverance is a defining characteristic of great tennis players. The sport demands sustained focus, mental toughness, and the ability to keep pushing through challenges, even when progress feels slow or uncertain. Success rarely comes quickly or easily, but rather through consistent effort, a willingness to adjust, and the determination to keep going despite setbacks. Tennis is uniquely structured to develop and reward on-court tenacity. That skill is equally valuable off the court. Perseverance is a mindset that the administrative and governance side of tennis must also embrace, particularly when tackling the systemic issues facing the sport today.
Tennis has its share of challenges and real problems. Unfortunately, within the current USTA culture, sometimes identifying and vocalizing issues is regarded as breaking an unspoken rule or cultural norm. Positivity is prized, sometimes to the point of suppressing desperately needed critical feedback. Constructive critique is not negativity—it’s the necessary first step toward meaningful change. We can’t fix what we refuse to acknowledge.
That’s where Einstein’s insight becomes so important. Tennis needs people who are willing and capable of sticking to hard problems. Lasting innovation doesn’t happen on a whiteboard in a single meeting or a weekend hackathon. Developing those seeds of progress requires commitment over time, a tolerance for adversity, and the fortitude to resist the temptation of taking easy but unsatisfactory actions and declaring quick victories. Real change comes from those who are willing to keep asking, testing, tweaking, and trying, again and again, until something genuinely works—and then continuing to refine from there.
We absolutely need smart people at the table. But more than that, we need people who are persistent, stubborn, and gritty. The ones who are undeterred by bureaucracy, unafraid of constructive confrontation, and unwilling to let important issues slide just because they are hard or uncomfortable to fix. These are the individuals who drive progress. They don’t give up at the first sign of resistance. If tennis succeeds in meaningful change, these people must be welcomed into the conversation. They must be empowered, supported, and taken seriously. We need fewer people who go with the flow and more who are willing to be a positive disruptive force for change.
I am genuinely excited about what’s happening in USTA Texas right now. Through initiatives like the upcoming innovation-focused hackathon, the Section is creating space for bold questions, persistent problem-solving, and collaborative exploration. It’s a commitment not just to identifying opportunities, but to doing the hard, sometimes uncomfortable work required to bring lasting improvements to the sport we love. That’s exactly the kind of perseverance tennis has always cultivated—and it’s exactly what the game needs now.
