Tennis chiefs eager to find new date to play Indian Wells Masters

Tennis fans were left disappointed after the ATP Masters events at Indian Wells was postponed on Tuesday, but organisers are hopeful of staging the event at some point in 2021.

The Indian Wells tournament was the first major tournament to be cancelled at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March, yet there have been doubts over whether it can be staged in its traditional March slot for some time.

With the Australian Open moving to February, Indian Wells always looked unlikely to start on it’s March 8th scheduled date and that was confirmed with a statement from tournament officials:

“The BNP Paribas Open will not be held March 8-21, 2021 as originally scheduled,” it read.

“The tournament is proactively working with the ATP and WTA Tours as well as title sponsor BNP Paribas to confirm dates later in the year to hold the event. Details will be released in the near future as plans are finalized.

“This decision was made after thorough consultation with state and local health authorities and tournament owner Larry Ellison.”

Dominic Thiem with Indian Wells Masters trophy

With Covid-19 cases soaring in California, there are suggestions that USTA officials and the ATP and WTA Tours will look to include Indian Wells as part of the build-up to next year’s US Open.

That could see an extended build-up to what is traditionally the final Grand Slam of the year, although a one-week Indian Wells event is more likely that the 96-player draw that is familiar for this event.

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