If Indian Wells Can Be Canceled, Is Any Sporting Event Safe?
As New York entered its second day in a state of emergency, leaders of the New York Road Runners were discussing with city officials whether to go forward with the New York City Half Marathon scheduled for this weekend. The race, which runs along the city’s streets from Prospect Park in Brooklyn to Central Park in Manhattan, has 25,000 participants and is among the largest events the organization stages.
“We are going to make our best judgment very shortly on that,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “At this point, I don’t see a reason to cancel. That can change at any point.”
After canceling their tennis tournament, organizers in Indian Wells moved swiftly to accommodate players, many of whom — including Venus Williams, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem, last year’s men’s singles champion — had already arrived in California. Players originally in the main draw in singles and doubles and in the qualifying event in singles were guaranteed complimentary hotel rooms, access to practice courts and medical and laundry service through March 16.
Ahn said she practiced Monday afternoon with the Taiwanese player Hsieh Su-wei before attending a WTA council meeting aimed at sorting out the effect of the tournament’s cancellation on matters like players’ ranking points and prize money distribution. She said she couldn’t help but be struck by such an uncharacteristic vibe at a tournament “all the players really look forward to.”
“It’s quiet,” Ahn said. “And the morale was pretty low. A lot of people are shocked. Some were angry.”
Jean-Christophe Faurel, a coach for the tennis star Coco Gauff, described the mood of the players and coaches as “shocked.”
“Coco opened the door of the car and said, ‘I have some bad news,’” Faurel said in a telephone interview. Gauff’s team went to dinner, and no one spoke for a while, Faurel said. Then they began wondering about the biggest question.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/sports/tennis/indian-wells-tennis-coronavirus.html