As the 2021 tennis season begins, chaos reigns: Week 1 previews

If there’s an improvisational quality to this rather sudden-feeling start to the 2021 tennis season, it’s because there’s … a lot of scrambling going on.

There are five professional tennis events going on this week. The starts are staggered a little bit. But all will end by Jan. 13 – after which the higher-ranked players will get on planes down to Australia.

But amidst all this, a lot of players who entered these events have pulled out, for various reasons.

Some, even, have opted to skip the more lucrative Australian Open qualifying (with the promise of more lucre). They’ve chosen to stay closer to home and play an ATP event instead.

It’s a lot.

We drop into each event, and bring you up to date on exactly what the heck is going on.