The tennis season, at long last, has begun. Or, I should say, begun again. At least for the men. And some of the women. Allow me to explain.

Most of the best players in the world are in Indian Wells, Calif., this week, for the first meaningful tournament after the Australian Open, which ended seven weeks ago (if you feel like it was more like 70 weeks, you are not alone). This tournament traditionally produces great tennis among the men, who are required to play. The women, sadly, are not, so some of them — including the Williams sisters, who haven’t played here since 2001, when they were booed because Venus withdrew from their semifinal match with a knee injury, and Justine Henin, who hasn’t played since 2006 — are gearing up for the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, which begins next week and is required for both men and women.

This tournament — and, for that matter, next week’s event in Miami — won’t be as easy to find on your television this year. ESPN decided to drop the event, leaving room for Fox Sports Net to take over. FSN isn’t as widely available as ESPN, and it’s up to local divisions to decide whether to show tennis or not. But those of you in New York are in luck, as you’ll find tennis on all week — in the afternoons and also in the evenings beginning Wednesday — on MSG Plus.
Here’s a rundown of what to look out for this week:

The King: Roger Federer has had food poisoning. He’s had mono. He had lost two matches in a row before his second-round win on Sunday. He has to deal with Rafael Nadal (nothing new there) and now a brash kid from Serbia who not only thinks he can beat Federer but smiles at the thought of playing the world no. 1. There’s never been a more difficult time to be Federer, but I expect he’ll rise to the occasion. He won Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back in 2005 and 2006. While he’s not likely to do that this year, I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t win one of them.

The Queen: Maria Sharapova has won her first 16 matches of the year and ought to run her unbeaten streak to 20 when this tournament ends. She’s only the fourth seed, but the three women above her — Ana Ivanovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Jelena Jankovic — don’t compete as consistently or with the same zeal. There’s no one else in the draw who should give her any trouble. For that matter, she might not have much trouble the rest of the season, as long as her serving shoulder remains healthy. Three major titles in a year? It’s certainly possible.

Braggadocio: If you didn’t get a chance to see Novak Djokovic on the Tonight Show last week, it’s worth your while to look it up on YouTube. The young Serb is the rare international player who has the personality to become a star in America. He also has the confidence to make Federer’s quest for 15 major titles, which would best Pete Sampras by one, quite difficult. He reached the semifinal here last year and then won Miami. In Indian Wells, he has a favorable draw free of true threats and littered with high-potential, low-output players until the semifinals, where he could face Nadal, the defending champion. (Nadal’s quarter contains several men whose aggressive styles have troubled him in the past, including James Blake, Paul-Henri Mathieu, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. But before he meets any of them, he’ll play 18-year-old American Donald Young.)

Andy Roddick: Look over there, it’s Andy Roddick! Too late, you missed him. Fresh off his best tournament since he won the Masters event in Cincinnati in 2006 (a victory that propelled him to the U.S. Open final later that year), Roddick lost his first match in Indian Wells to Tommy Haas. So much for the momentum he gained in Dubai, where he defeated Nadal and Djokovic after announcing his coaching split with Jimmy Connors. Indian Wells is among the slower hard-court surfaces on the tour, which doesn’t favor Roddick’s serve-dependent game. Still, Haas’s surgically repaired shoulder has troubled him of late, and he recently lost an exhibition to Pete Sampras. Roddick needs a big performance in Miami.

Underachievers: David Nalbandian has played two clay-court tournaments this year. This tells us two things: One, tennis is a strange sport (so many tournaments in so many places that you can’t possibly organize it); and two, Nalbandian might actually be in shape, or decent shape, or at least not completely out of shape. He finished 2007 strong, but the world still waits for more (he defeated Ernests Gulbis in a three-set tiebreak yesterday). It also waits for Marcos Baghdatis, Tomas Berdych (second-round loser this weekend), and Nicole Vaidisova (ditto) to win something, anything, of importance.

Comeback: The weak field gives California mom Lindsay Davenport her best chance to win a big event.

Twilight: Remember 2000 and 2001, when Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt pummeled Pete Sampras in U.S. Open finals? Seven years later, it seems clear that their time in tennis is over, or nearly so. Safin lost in the first round this weekend to Jurgen Melzer. He’s 1–4 on the season and hasn’t won a title since the 2005 Australian Open. Hewitt lost two out of three matches at small tournaments in Las Vegas and Rotterdam leading up to Indian Wells. He is ranked no. 24 in the world, his lowest ranking since December 1999, two years before he took over the no. 1 spot. He’s won at least one title every year since 1998, but this could very well be his first year without one.

Mr. Perrotta is a senior editor at Tennis Magazine. He can be reached at tperrotta@tennismagazine.com.