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It feels like an eternity ago, but also a moment ago.

But five years ago this week, the tennis world gathered at Indian Wells for the 2020 edition of the BNP Paribas Open.

And the evening before the tournament was set to begin – it was cancelled.

It was just the beginning of quite a challenging, scary and deadly period around the planet, with tennis being the least of our concerns.

That said, there was no tennis at all for five months.

And even when it did resume, the complications and precautions for players, staff, tournaments, and media went on for a couple of years.

Here are some of the stories we wrote about it at the time.

Coronavirus concerns mean Indian Wells is off

Everything is cancelled

Indian Wells site to remain open for players

The Fed Cup – now BJK Cup was set to debut a new format, in a new city. And that, too was cancelled. You could argue that the competition hasn’t really recovered, even through various incarnations and formats.

New Fed Cup finals event postponed

Challenger offered omens

Even the previous week, signs were there during a now-defunct men’s and women’s Challenger held on site.

They worked on the towel situation. There were masks everywhere.

Five years ago – before No. 1, and doping suspensions

Five years ago, Iga Swiatek was 18 and just outside the top 50. She didn’t even play the Challenger tournament, but was prepping for the main event. Six months later, when tennis resumed, she won the fall edition of Roland Garros.

Jannik Sinner was also still 18, and ranked No. 71. He did play the Challenger, and lost his second round to American Denis Kudla.

A few years later, both were No. 1.

Fast forward and Swiatek, now 23, lost to a 17-year-old in the semifinals, after serving a short doping suspension last fall. Sinner wasn’t in the desert at all, as he’s serving a three-month doping suspension set to end just before the Italian Open.

Doubles with big bro

Five years ago, Alexander Zverev had played just a couple of matches since the Australian Open, and was looking for a little court time as he waited for the big event. So he teamed up with brother Mischa and played doubles in the Challenger.

They lost to Americans Sebastian Korda and Mitchell Krueger in the first round.

There were a lot of quality players in that Challenger field, for various reasons including the location and timing of it.

Disbelief and shock

The night it was cancelled, the chatter was running around – and the fact that the WTA hadn’t yet released the order of play for the BNP Paribas Open qualifying, which was to begin the next day – was a hint. The fact that they wouldn’t even talk about it was another.

And so, we wandered around the site, asking if anyone knew anything.

Then came the word.

We were standing there talking to a group of players and coaches when it came down with a message on my phone. After telling the group, one WTA coach basically accused me of making it up.

It was pretty funny, actually; he then strutted off to … I don’t know … change the tournament’s mind? He fancied himself that impactful.

We wandered around the site again, to see who was still on court. And we found the last player to leave the courts that night. It was all pretty eerie.

We didn’t recognize her at the time. Now, we know that it was Anhelina Kalinina.

And then everyone tried to get out of town, although they kept the site open for players to practice.

A few days later, we found ourselves on an American Airlines flight to Houston (following to Montreal on a connection), which we were able to scam for a really good price – if memory serves, less than $200 US for the one-way trip. And an exit-row seat.

There were a lot of tennis people on that flight. We boarded with Cameron Norrie, who was actually only going to Houston, where he went to school, with no idea what his next step might be. He talked of going back to New Zealand, where his parents still resided. But he paid nearly $500 for his flight.

Félix Auger-Aliassime also got an exit row. But was stuffed between two fairly portly people.

Matteo Barrettini – all 6-foot-5 of him – was jammed into a tight economy row with his then-girlfriend, Ajla Tomljanovic, and her mother, At least they gave him the aisle. You’d think that’d be the stuff of nightmares. But Berrettini just smiled and laughed his way through it.

And then, everything came to a standstill.

A month or two later, starved of tennis with the clubs all closed, we searched out options and found the somewhat bumpy, but reliable old brick wall.