NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The fall portion of the Vanderbilt men's tennis schedule is set as the Commodores will begin the 2026-27 season on Sept. 18 at the Mississippi State Invite in Starkville.
Vanderbilt returns to action after concluding last season in the NCAA Tournament, making it to the second round for the first time since 2019. The Dores enter the fourth season of the Scott Brown tenure.
"We're looking forward to having all the guys back together, training and working together," head coach Scott Brown said. "And we're also looking forward to having our newcomers Roshan Santhosh and Leonardo Ljubicic on campus, introducing them to the team and getting to work with them. All of our guys did a phenomenal job of taking another step forward this summer and competing at a lot of different events. Everyone on our team played at least six or eight pro events; it was a really strong summer.
The first ITA event of the season takes place Sept. 19-27 with the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The tournament is a qualifier for the NCAA Division I Individual Championships in November. 10 singles players from the All-American Championships will qualify for the NCAA Singles Championship, consisting of eight main draw quarterfinalists and two feed-in consolation finalists, while four doubles teams will qualify for the NCAA Doubles Championship.
Oct. 2-4 marks the only home event of the fall for Vandy, the Black and Gold Invitational. It will be the first fall matches hosted by the men's team since 2023. The ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships are set to follow Oct. 8-13 at Farm and Forge Club in College Grove, Tennessee. The Dores will make a short trek to Murfreesboro Oct. 16-18 for the Blue Raider Invite hosted by Middle Tennessee. Rounding out October is the Rome Tennis Center Collegiate Invite, taking place Oct. 23-25.
The ITA Sectional Championships will be hosted by Florida and are set to run Nov. 5-8. The sectional event marks the final opportunity to gain NCAA individual qualification. The fall season will conclude with the NCAA Division I Individual Championships hosted by Georgia, set for Nov. 17-22. Vanderbilt will also send players to compete in multiple ATP and World Tennis (formerly ITF) pro circuit events throughout the fall.
"As you can see on the fall schedule, we have quite a bit of pro events, and that's because our players have earned the ability to compete in those," Brown said. "A lot of our guys have played a full pro summer and came out with a lot of pro points. We have seven guys on our team that accumulated pro points and earned the right to play in these types of events, so we're going to take them there."
"What I love about the group this season is they love to compete and they love to go out there and battle and play; they're all hungry," Brown concluded. "They took off where they left off in the season and continued making steps forward. They didn't use the summer to relax, they used the summer to continue competing and improving, and we're ready to get back to action here in the fall."
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