The 2020 BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells has been canceled amid coronavirus concerns, organizers announced Sunday evening.

Local health officials announced Saturday that a person who tested positive for coronavirus was being treated at Eisenhower Health hospital in Rancho Mirage and Riverside County officials announced a public health emergency on Sunday.

“We are very disappointed that the tournament will not take place, but the health and safety of the local community, fans, players, volunteers, sponsors, employees, vendors, and everyone involved with the event is of paramount importance,” Tournament Director Tommy Haas said in a statement. “We are prepared to hold the tournament on another date and will explore options.”

Martin Massiello, Eisenhower Health’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, added: “We appreciate the proactive stance tournament organizers are taking to ensure public health and safety.”

Anyone who purchased tickets to the tournament may request a refund for this year's event or credit toward the 2021 tournament.

They can make their request by visiting bnpparibasopen.com/coronavirus by March 31.

Refunds apply to complete orders only. Physical tickets need to be presented at the box office or suite department, digital tickets need to be in a customer's ticketing account, and all requests need to be made by the purchaser on record.

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Would-be attendees expressed shock and sadness in the hours following the announcement that the tournament had been canceled.

"It's horrible. I'm shocked,” said Arlene De La Paz, a La Quinta resident and Eisenhower nurse who has attended the tournament with courtside seats for 18 years. “As a fan, I am disappointed. I felt it was an overreaction for one case, but as I thought about it as a nurse it is the right decision.

“From the health perspective, it is the right decision. A lot of our population is elderly, you don't want them exposed to corona (virus).”

The tournament, which was supposed to run through March 22, has been held in the desert every year since 1976. Qualifying was set to begin Monday, with the main draw play for the women set to start Wednesday.

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The tournament is one of the most popular stops for the men and women on tour and is considered an unofficial fifth “major” tournament. The top 75 men and women in the world are expected to play in each tournament and this year's prize money was to exceed $17 million.

The BNP Paribas Open set an attendance record last year with 475,372 attendees over the two-week period.

A small plane flying from Houston to Palm Springs on Sunday night carried both tennis professionals and fans eager to attend the BNP. At the start of the flight, eager locals leaned across the aisle to ask young players toting tennis bags if they were competing. A woman local to the Coachella Valley asked Elise Mertens (the No. 23-ranked player in the world) her name so she could follow her progress through the tournament.

Another woman at the front of the plane told her seatmate that she attends the BNP every year. She had rented a house for a week and had plans to brush up on her tennis skills at local courts in between watching the live action at Indian Wells.

As players walked from their plane to baggage claim, a table of three BNP staff members informed each player that the tournament had been canceled, though they couldn’t offer many more details beyond that.

Large tennis bags circled around every luggage carousel and two large vans with BNP emblazed on their side waited outside of the airport.

Robbe Ceyssens, who is Elise Mertens’ coach, said they found out about the cancellation as they got off their flight around 7:30 p.m. Sunday. They flew 13 hours from Belgium to participate in the tournament.

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“It’s a bit of a shock,” Ceyssens said as he waited for their large pile of luggage and tennis equipment to appear on the carousel. “They do everything to keep players safe, but they waited until the very end to decide because they didn’t even know. We have to figure things out now. We aren’t sure what’s going to happen now.”

Belinda Bencic, the No. 8 player in the world, and Naomi Osaka, the 2018 BNP Paribas Open and the current No. 10 ranked player in the world, both retweeted the news about the cancellation, each adding a teary-eyed face emoji.

American tennis player Tennys Sandgren, took a more gallows-humor approach. He, like many other players, is already in town for the tournament and after the news broke, he alluded to perhaps hitting a local bar.

He tweeted "So, is IW cancelled? Need to know what dmg I’m allowed to do at yardhouse later."

Brett Haber a commentator for the Tennis Channel also went the comedic route, but touched on some of the inconveniences caused by the cancellation.

He tweeted: "Anyone need a hotel room and rental car in Palm Springs for the next two weeks? Asking for 1500 friends."

"You probably all heard the news. Indian Wells cancelled. We are here and still deciding what’s next," Rafael Nadal wrote on Twitter. "So sad for all that is happening around the world with this situation. Hopefully soon solutions from the authorities. Stay all well and safe."

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Rancho Mirage native Desirae Krawczyk, a professional tennis player on the women’s tour, was scheduled to play doubles at Indian Wells with Giuliana Olmos of Mexico. The pair won the doubles title together in Acapulco last month and Krawczyk, 26, had hoped to repeat the success at home in front of friends and family.

“It’s definitely frustrating to hear about the tournament being canceled,” Krawczyk told The Desert Sun on Sunday evening. “A lot of players, myself included, look forward to coming here and playing at one of the best events on tour, so it’s disappointing to hear so suddenly.”

The tournament is the first major local event to be impacted by concerns of coronavirus as the number of infected people increased in Riverside County.

Its cancellation comes two days after the tournament detailed several new preventative measures they were taking due to coronavirus concerns.

Ball kids were going to wear gloves, as were all ticket-takers and food vendors. Only the players would handle their towels. The tournament planned to have 250 new hand-sanitizing stations peppered around the grounds.

In a statement, Indian Wells leaders said they support the decision to cancel this year's tournament and that this year's event will "set an example of thoughtful leadership that prioritizes the health of players, fans and the community."

A statement issued by Steve Simon, the chairman and CEO of the WTA who also was the tournament director at the BNP Paribas Open until 2015, said decisions on future tournaments have not been made.

"We are disappointed our fans will not be able to come out and watch the event, and our players are also disappointed to not compete over the next two weeks, along with the sponsors who support the event," said Steve Simon, the chairman and CEO of the WTA. "However, we understand the decision which has been made in the interest of public health and safety which is the top priority at this time. It is too soon to speculate about what will happen to other tournament that follow."

The next stop on the tennis tour is Miami for the Miami Open which begins March. Almost all the players who would've played in the BNP Paribas Open would also play in Miami.

The cancellation came nearly seven hours after Riverside County Public Health Officer Cameron Kaiser proclaimed the public health emergency during a news conference at Eisenhower Health.

The patient at Eisenhower Health is the second Riverside County resident to test positive for coronavirus. The first person was a passenger on the Diamond Prince cruise ship in Japan and is being treated at a Northern California facility.

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During the news conference, Kaiser stressed "community exposure is low" and reiterated a previous statement that health officials had not recommended the cancellation of events that attract thousands of people to the Coachella Valley.

Tournament officials said the cancellation was based on guidance from medical officials.

“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, a USC professor of medicine and biomedical engineering, said in a statement. “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.”

The next big event in the desert is the LPGA's ANA Inspiration, a major championship on the women's professional golf tour. As of Sunday, tournament officials were still planning on holding the event March 30 through April 5 at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.

More discussions on the prospects of the event will be held early this week between the LPGA, tournament operator International Management Group and tournament sponsor All Nippon Airways. Earlier this year, the LPGA canceled three tournaments, one in Thailand, one in Singapore and one in China, over health and safety concerns for players because of the coronavirus.

Other events taking place soon include the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach country music festival. Both take place next month at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.

As of Sunday night, nearly 10,000 people had signed a petition calling for Coachella's cancellation. An opposing petition had support from about 800 people.

The sudden cancellation of the tennis tournament had tourists looking about for other things to do.

"I have visiting relatives in from New York; we planned to go to the tennis garden tomorrow on their final day," said Mitch Blumberg of Rancho Mirage. Now, he said, they were considering visiting the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway or the Palm Springs Air Museum.

"I know they would have enjoyed the color, restaurants and extraordinary grounds at the tennis garden," he added. "Sadly, that opportunity is now lost this year."

Desert Sun reporters Larry Bohannan and Andrew John and photojournalist Omar Ornelas contributed to this report.