Binghamton Carousel Classic: A Festival for All Levels of Tennis
VESTAL, N.Y. – Binghamton University isn’t just rolling out another early-season tennis tune-up this weekend. It’s staging a three-day festival built around one idea: everyone plays.
The Carousel Classic, back for a second straight year, will take over Recreation Park in Binghamton from Sept. 11–13. Courts that usually host quiet morning rallies will instead showcase a full spectrum of the sport — Division I teams, college club players, high school athletes, and, for the first time, a full adaptive tennis clinic and tournament.
This isn’t a closed-off collegiate event tucked behind campus fences. It’s a community tennis fair with a competitive edge.
Three days, one park, all levels
Play starts early and doesn’t stop.
On Friday, Division I and Collegiate Wheelchair matches open the schedule at 9 a.m. After that first wave, the focus shifts to the next generation: a youth clinic for Horace Mann Elementary students runs from 11 a.m. to noon, before match play resumes at midday and continues until around 5 p.m.
Saturday belongs to adaptive tennis. An adaptive clinic opens the day at 9 a.m., giving athletes with disabilities a chance to learn, compete, and connect on the same courts as the college stars. Matches are set to begin around 10:30 a.m. and roll through to about 5 p.m.
Sunday keeps the tempo high. Matches are slated to begin at roughly 9 a.m. and stretch into the afternoon, with Collegiate Club competition getting underway at noon as the final layer of a packed weekend.
The schedule is dense, but that’s the point. Every block of time offers a different slice of the game.
A new pillar: adaptive tennis takes center stage
The standout addition this year is clear. Adaptive tennis moves from the margins to the heart of the event.
Wheelchair programs from University of Michigan, University of Houston and Fresno State will line up in both men’s and women’s play, sharing the stage with Division I men’s teams from Binghamton, Buffalo and Bucknell, and women’s teams from Binghamton, Buffalo and Colgate.
It’s a rare mix. Power-conference wheelchair programs and traditional Division I lineups, all competing in the same shared space, under the same banner.
For Binghamton, the Carousel Classic isn’t just about early-season form. It’s about using a college event to widen the sport’s doors.
Men’s head coach Nick Zieziula made that mission plain. He spoke of an event that aims to “highlight the best of what sports has to offer, bringing people together and creating community,” with teams “competing hard against each other but also working together” to run clinics and introduce tennis to kids who may never have picked up a racquet.
The weekend promises exactly that: intense matches on one court, a child’s first forehand on the next.
Community muscle behind a growing event
Putting on a tournament of this scale doesn’t happen quietly in the background. It leans heavily on local backing.
Tennis Charities of Binghamton is actively seeking corporate sponsors and community partners to help shoulder the cost of running the event and to support the youth and community programming that give the Classic its character.
The financial support underpins the vision. Without it, the adaptive clinics, youth sessions, and broader outreach would struggle to match the ambition of the on-court product.
Women’s head coach Paul Caceres underlined that sense of shared purpose, welcoming all the visiting schools and pointing to the return of the Horace Mann youth clinic and the launch of the new adaptive programming as central pieces of the weekend. For his team, it’s also a starting line.
Bearcats begin again
For the Binghamton women, the Carousel Classic doubles as a season opener and a first look at a reshaped roster. Four newcomers join established returners such as Apara Khandare, Angel Walia and Samantha Jaros, giving Caceres fresh options and internal competition as the fall begins.
There’s no gentle easing in. High-level opposition, a busy schedule, and the added responsibility of being hosts will test the new group immediately.
On the men’s side, the Bearcats arrive with momentum and expectation. They finished second in the NEC Tournament last season and bring back key figures in Andre Ajed, Filipe Costa and Harry Liao. Four new players bolster that core, setting up what should be a compelling blend of experience and fresh energy.
For Zieziula’s squad, the Classic offers exactly what he wanted: early matches against two programs at the top of their respective conferences, played in a setting that demands both performance and presence in the community.
Across the three days, the scoreboard will tell one story. The sightlines around Recreation Park will tell another: college contenders, wheelchair athletes, club players, high schoolers and local kids all sharing the same stage, all part of the same event.
If Binghamton’s vision holds, the Carousel Classic won’t just be a date on the tennis calendar. It will be a marker of what a college tournament can become when competition and inclusion pull in the same direction.
