Coronavirus: Health concerns cause cancellation of Indian Wells pro tennis tournament

The two-week tournament, which features ATP and WTA tour pros at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, drew 475,000 fans last year, the Los Angeles Times reported. Qualifying for the tournament was scheduled for Monday, with the main draw to begin Wednesday, the newspaper reported.

The tournament, unofficially considered a fifth major behind the four Grand Slam events, was scheduled to run through March 22. This year's purse had been announced at $17 million, the Times reported.

The Riverside County Public Health Department declared a public health emergency Sunday for the area, located 110 miles east of desert cities 110 miles east of Los Angeles, including Indian Wells, ESPN reported.

"As a result, the 2020 BNP Paribas Open will not take place at this time due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus and the safety of the participants and attendees at the event," organizers said in a statement released via email and on the tournament's website. "This is following 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," David Agus, professor of medicine and biomedical engineering at the University of Southern California, said in a statement. "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."

WTA Tour chief executive Steve Simon told The New York Times that Steve Simon, the chief executive of the WTA Tour, told The New York Times officials had considered playing the tournament without fans in attendance, but decided against that option.

“We were supportive of the concept,” Simon told the newspaper. “But ultimately the tournament didn’t feel it was in their best interest."

This year’s field included Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff.

Tommy Haas, the tournament’s director, told the Los Angeles Times he was disappointed the tournament

"We are prepared to hold the tournament on another date and will explore options," Haas told the Los Angeles Times.

Finding an open date for the tournament might be difficult, The New York Times reported. The Miami Open, the next event on the tour calendar, is scheduled to begin March 23, the newspaper reported.

"The intent is still for Miami to operate," Simon told The New York Times. "It's obviously two weeks away, but right now our approach is we are planning to operate all of our upcoming events and put every precaution in place. But we will obviously continue to work with the event very closely and will have to monitor all the situations there."