History

The LG&T Tennis Challenger is a USTA Pro Circuit Challenger event that attracts top ranked tennis players from around the world. Many countries are represented each year. Our Binghamton Challenger is the only professional tennis Challenger tournament in Upstate New York and one of only a few in the northeast and midatlantic. We've seen some of the greats over the years, on their way to becoming stars.

The Challenger Tournament brings both Binghamton and Upstate New York a unique opportunity to host and view an international professional tennis tournament, while also helping to support charities at home. Binghamton Challenger tennis has helped raise thousands of dollars for charity since its inaugural year, 1994. The tournament continues to host charity events, this year benefits for the YMCA and the Discovery Center.

In addition to world class tennis, our event has featured live concerts, high school tennis clinics, Dick's Sporting Goods Kids Day, interactives with the pros, and Pro Ams.

Recreation Park, in the heart of the Binghamton community, provides an ideal setting for our tennis tournament. Enjoy music, local food specialties, community and charity events. Join us at our stop on the road to the U.S. Open and see how much Binghamton Challenger Tennis has to offer.

It all started in 1994, making our event the 2nd oldest running challenger in the U.S. Michael Starke brought the event here after a similar event near Albany was looking for a new home.

Our event is a Challenger type event on the USTA Pro Circuit. What is a Challenger?? A Challenger is essentially the 4th level of prize money and points for Tennis professionals... (Grand Slams, Masters Series, International Series, Challengers, Futures, Satellites). Challengers are defined by the ATP tour, as are most all of the men's events out there, but essentially the USTA has grouped all the challengers, futures, and satelittes in the US and manages them all under one umbrella called the Pro Circuit (for men and for women). Challengers generally see pros ranked between 80 and 400 in the world.

Noteable players over the years:

  • Andy Murray
  • Jamie Murray
  • Lleyton Hewitt
  • James Blake
  • Mark Philippoussis
  • Jan Michael Gambill
  • Guillermo Canas
  • Tim Henman
  • Dmitry Tursunov
  • Jiri Novak
  • Leander Paes
  • Andrew Ilie
  • Chris Woodruff
  • Derrick Rostagno
  • Gianluca Pozzi
  • Shuzo Matsuoka
  • Sargis Sargisian
  • Paul Goldstein
  • Max Mirnyi
  • David Wheaton
  • Jeff Morrison
  • Paradorn Srichaphan
  • Scott Draper
  • Michael Tebbutt
  • Jack Brasington
  • Brian Vahaly
  • Michael Russell
  • Taylor Dent
  • Ivo Karlovic
  • Nicolas Massu
  • Julien Benneteau
  • Vince Spadea