Indian Wells 2021 Gets Canceled, Disrupts ATP Calendar

After a truncated tennis season, the fans were hoping of witnessing a full action-packed ATP calendar next year. However, a slew of tournaments has already got cancelled before the onset of the 2021 season. The tour’s first ATP Masters’ 1000 tournament, Indian Wells, has been cancelled for the second straight year.

Indian Wells 2021 Cancelled

Despite the optimism of a vaccine arrival, the surge in COVID-19 cases in America puts the tournament organizers in a tough position. Originally scheduled during the second week of March every year, the BNP Paribas Open tournament at Indian Wells would not take place.

Following the grim announcement, it has cast doubts on the whether Miami Open would hold the tournament. But the cancellation of Indian Wells is likely to result in a huge disruption in the ATP calendar.

Following suit, 2021 Rio Open has also been cancelled amidst the coronavirus crisis. With its dates clashing with the next year’s Australian Open, the outdoor clay competition would not be part of the 2021 ATP calendar. Last year, Cristian Garin won the Rio Open, defeating Gianluca Mager in the final, 7-6, 7-5.

However, a beacon of hope has been ignited by the Madrid Open, which has officially announced the hosting dates. Starting from 27th April next year, the Master’s 1000 clay-court tournament would return on the tour after getting suspended in the 2020 season.

In fact, most of the warm-up events gearing up to the 2021 Australian Open are unlikely to take place because of the strict two week quarantine period imposed by the Australian health authorities. With the Australian Open already postponed by two weeks, most tournaments would encounter problems in scheduling in such precarious times.