"What's going to happen to the tour now?": Jamie Murray on coronavirus

On Sunday, the BNP Paribas Open sent out a press release to announce the cancellation of its 2020 ATP and WTA tournaments due to a confirmed local case of coronavirus. This came after the players were already in Indian Wells preparing for the event; the qualifying draw was set to start Monday and the main draw on Wednesday.

Since the tournament had previously announced that it would take extra precautions to prevent the spread of coronavirus, including having ball kids wear gloves and the players manage their own towels, the unprecedented news drew strong reactions from the tennis community.

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Jamie Murray, a former doubles No. 1 and star of Tennis Channel’s My Tennis Life, was one of the players who weighed in.

“What’s going happen with the tour now?” he asked. “Obviously a lot more events, especially the ones in Europe where there’s a lot kicking off in those countries with regards to the coronavirus, a lot of kind of sanctions being put in place.

“You can potentially be looking at not having a tour for the next like four to six months until this gets under control, I guess. I wonder why their didn’t want to play the tournament behind closed doors either and not let the public in.”

Three-time Indian Wells champion Rafael Nadal aired his own worries on Twitter.

There is no word as of yet regarding the status of the Miami Open, another significant combined tournament, which is set to begin March 23.