It will be all quiet in the California desert over the next two weeks. The BNP Paribas Open is off.
The first Masters 1000 event of 2020, for which qualifying was scheduled to begin on Monday, was cancelled on Sunday due to the spreading coronavirus.
“We are very disappointed that the tournament will not take place, but the health and safety of the local community, fans, players, volunteers, sponsors, employees, vendors, and everyone involved with the event is of paramount importance,” said tournament director Tommy Haas. “We are prepared to hold the tournament on another date and will explore options.”
As for this fortnight there were apparently no options–not after the Riverside County Public Health Department declared a public health emergency for the Coachella Valley when a case of coronavirus was confirmed locally. Cancellation of the tournament followed the guidance of medical professionals, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and State of California.
“There is too great a risk, at this time, to the public health of the Riverside County area in holding a large gathering of this size,” explained Dr. David Agus, Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California. “It is not in the public interest of fans, players and neighboring areas for this tournament to proceed. We all have to join together to protect the community from the coronavirus outbreak.”
“We appreciate the proactive stance tournament organizers are taking to ensure public health and safety,” added Martin Massiello, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Eisenhower Health.
Earlier this week the tournament was scheduled to proceed as planned, albeit with plenty of precautions. Tournament officials on Friday released the following statement regarding the coronavirus:
“Following the direction and guidance of Dr. David Agus, Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California, and Martin Massiello, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Eisenhower Health, the BNP Paribas Open is taking action to continue prioritizing the health and safety of the fans, athletes, and everyone involved with the tournament.
“First and foremost, any patron who has purchased tickets directly from the tournament may request a refund for the 2020 tournament, or a credit for the 2021 tournament. Patrons can visit www.bnpparibasopen.com/coronavirus to request a refund or credit.
“Additional actions include:
- More than 250 hand sanitizing stations have been placed throughout the facility
- Players will be required to manage their own towel on court and ball kids will not touch or move player towels. A chair will be placed at the back of the court for them to place their towel on for usage during the match.
- Ball kids will wear gloves
- Restaurant and food supply workers will wear gloves
- Volunteers taking tickets at entrances will wear gloves
- N95 masks are being secured for first aid and health personnel to be prepared for any circumstances that would necessitate the use thereof
- Organized player and fan interaction will be limited at the tournament
- All common areas throughout the facility will be cleaned daily with an antiviral application
- Coordinating with local hospital and CDC approved testing for all individuals with symptoms
Further actions are being considered and evaluated on a daily basis in order to continue to ensure the safety of everyone associated with the event.”
In a rapidly escalating situation, “further actions” did in fact become necessary. And that action was cancellation of the entire event.
wow
Very sorry to hear this but … needs must. Travel at this time is a very bad idea. Avoiding crowds is a really good idea. Coronavirus is NOT a “Democrat hoax” or plot and it’s not going away any time soon. I really really wish it would since my husband and I are in a high risk category but I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
Awww!…no tennis?Urgh!…i feel bored already!!…
But can’t they just play without spectators?Serie A play with an empty stadium too…Besides,where they want to put IW in an already packed calender?Can’t they play Miami this week?ATP don’t have plan B over this?It’s not an over night thingy..this Covid-19..
They can’t play Miami this week, no. There’s a lot of cases in Miami – that’s a major cruise ship port – not to mention a major airport – but we’ll see what their Health dept says. The way things are in Italy and France – and Madrid cancelled a Challenger this week! (Do people even attend those?) – there’s going to be a lot of open dates over the next few months. 🙁
The last I read about Roland Garros it’s on for now because the main stadium is still open air, even with a roof, so the current French guidelines would permit it.
The problem is that contagious diseases spread exponentially. One person gets it – it’s likely that he infects 10 more before he even knows he has it. Well, China says they have it under control. Let’s hope the rest of the world manages to do that, too. Flu normally goes away during summer months – maybe this thing will too?
Ohh…thanks for the explaination Ramara!…Boy!…i can’t imagine life without tennis for a whole year!
Hope to God it will slow down pretty soon!
How’s the situation at Miami? Will that be cancelled too?
In the mean time, where are the players putting up? Hotels are not safe places, the corona virus is very contagious! Indoor environment makes things worse if there happens to be an infected person around.
They cancel the whole thing because of one case?
How are the other tournaments going to be affected?
Surely they could play without spectators
What happens to points ? Everyone’s points from last year drops off?
Or they continue status quo n award same points as last year…
Europe has high cases .does this mean whole clay can get cancelled (:-
sad news for all tennis fans…and players….but I understand…..can’t wait for 2021.
Yes, the corona-virus is definitely not a joke. But IMO cancelling tennis tournaments is atm a massive overreaction! Many more people are killed by the common flue every year, but no one ever suggests to cancel sport events during the flue season. And you could as well cancel trains, subways, flights, close down airports, schools, cinemas, public swimmingpools and other public meeting places, where the likelihood to contract the virus is much higher than at a tennis tournament!
And how is this supposed to work in the long run? With that overcautious frame of mind the whole tennis season should be cancelled for an indefinite time – and all other sports events, too. The Olympics should be cancelled as well for crying out loud! Football Stadiums should be empty! But none of the above will stop the virus anyway. It’s only a matter of time in our interconnected age, especially since it has such a long incubation period, which makes it so hard to isolate infected people.
Instead of putting so much energy and logistics into trying to halt the progression of the virus, the authorities should overhaul their potential to deal with an epidemic of sick individuals. Here in Germany it became apparent that the authorities aren’t even prepared to deal adequately with the public fear caused by the progression of the virus. And at least right now I have the impression that the epidemic fear might turn out to be more hurtful than the virus itself.
I wish all of you that you may stay healthy – and if you contract the virus, I hope that you will have a relatively benign case – which is statistically far more likely than having a severe case🍀🍀🍀.
Absolutely littlefoot. I concur completely. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Corona virus kills ~ 3% of the infected people. Normal flu is far less than 1%. Do you think they can be comparable ? Do you even know how much weakening effect this virus has ?
Time to get more educated maybe on virus.
Ricky…what will happen to ranking points due to cancellation ?
The media is overdoing the panic. The fear is greater than the virus. It’s sick the way even stick markets are tanking worldwide crashing routine 5 to 6 percent daily. If this continues more traders and investors will die of shock if they are leveraged instead of the virus.
I meant stock markets above
Wait for few more days. This is not the bottom. It is going to impact each and every business directly or indirectly.Forthcoming quarterly numbers would feel the heat.
BTW, if someone wants to understand how serious this is virus is, go and check out https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
More than .1 million reported infected worldwide right now
Yet the NBA and NHL somehow manage to continue with multiple games nightly
Ironically ,When you think of a desert, its dry, hot and unpopulated, not the sort of place normally associated with catching a virus.
The virus can spread from one person to the next when in close contact, and the virus may spread during the incubation period without the infected person (the carrier) knowing it. Temperature checks are not enough.
There’s no way to know who has the virus and is a carrier, it’s better to avoid crowded places.
Couldn’t they have just played it without a crowd? It’d be weird, but at least the schedule and ranking points wouldn’t be stuffed up. Broadcasting $ would still be made.
As Jamie Murray has said, this precedent with one covid-19 case does not bode well for Miami, the whole clay court season, Wimbledon…
It seems that the Miami Open is still on. For the players, their locker rooms are air conditioned, more conducive for the virus to spread, I feel the organisers should first get all the participating players tested for the virus (not just temperature checks which are not enough).
Air conditioned environment is the worse breeding ground for the virus. Here in Singapore, most of our cases were spread in air conditioned environment – in hotel meetings and buffet lunches and dinners; in air conditioned Churches during worships; in private dinner gatherings in air conditioned restaurants, etc.
Singapore is hot and humid so getting the virus outdoors is quite unlikely; it’s the heavy usage of air conditioning everywhere that’s the problem for us in Singapore.
I don’t know how Miami organisers are going to tackle the virus issue.
There are certainly a lot of inconsistencies with respect to which events are going ahead and which are cancelled. I tend to agree with littlefoot that from one perspective this is all an over-reaction and the cure is worse than the disease. However, there’s still too little that’s known. And the one thing we do know is that this has the potential to overwhelm public health systems. It already has in China and Italy; there’s no reason it couldn’t happen in the US, and in fact I think it is about to. Israel just took one of the more extreme measures, quarantining all passengers arriving by air (from anywhere) for 14 days. Let’s hope for the best and in the meantime take commonsense precautions.
Lucky..any idea what will happen to points ? Will they just drop whatever anyone gained last year ?
Sorry Sanju, I have no idea.
My uni has been shut down. Seems like a hysteria but I guess it’s a necessary precaution.