BNP Paribas Open Will Not Be Held in March

For Second Consecutive Year, the BNP Paribas Open Will Not be Held in March

The BNP Paribas Open will not be held March 8-21, 2021 as originally scheduled. 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, according to an official announcement.

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.

The official announcement comes as Southern California is currently under a stay-at-home order, which is expected to be extended today, Tuesday, Dec. 29.

As of Monday, California had 2,155,976 confirmed COVID-19 cases to date, according to the California Department of Public Health. There have been 24,284 COVID-19 deaths in California since the start of the pandemic.

In March of this year, 2020, The Riverside County Public Health Department declared a public health emergency for the Coachella Valley after a confirmed case of coronavirus (COVID-19) locally. As a result, the 2020 BNP Paribas Open did not take place at this time due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus and the safety of the participants and attendees at the event.

This came 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,” Dr. David Agus, Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California, said at the time. “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.”