Commuters passing through Grand Central Terminal will be able to join squash enthusiasts taking in many of the world’s finest squash players competing for the next week on a glass-walled court assembled inside Vanderbilt Hall.

The Bear Stearns Tournament of Champions, a squash competition that organizers say is the sport’s largest spectator event each year, will kick off today as professional players from at least 14 different countries take their first swings at advancing to the men’s and women’s championship matches on Wednesday evening.

Setting itself apart from most other professional sporting events, the squash tournament is free to the public. Organizers estimate that 150,000 commuters will watch-on during the course of the tournament.

Two of America’s top collegiate squash teams, Yale University and Princeton University, will compete in co-ed matches as part of the first-ever Mayor’s Cup College Squash Challenge.

“Watching Yale and Princeton play will undoubtedly add a new and exciting dimension,” the commissioner of the New York City Sports Commission, Kenneth Podziba, said in a statement.

The women’s team at Princeton holds the country’s no. 1 college ranking, while the men are ranked no. 2, organizers said. Both Yale’s teams are ranked no. 4 in the country.

Highlighting the men’s field of the professional tournament is the world’s no. 2-ranked player, Ramy Ashour of Egypt. Mr. Ashour, 20, has vaulted over 37 other players in the past two years to earn his ranking.