Roger Federer is back on court following a six-week break as he lines up in the ATP Indian Wells tournament on Wednesday.
Swiss ace returns to ATP action in hotly-contested field
Roger Federer is back on court following a six-week break from competition as he lines up in the ATP and WTA Indian Wells tournament which begins on Wednesday.
The world number two was last in action when he was edged out of another five-set epic with Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final on February 1.
Federer's defeat to Nadal sees the Swiss star remain on 13 grand slam titles - just one behind the all-time record of 14 held by Pete Sampras.
After missing Switzerland's recent Davis Cup defeat to the United States with a sore back, Federer now prepares for a month-long run of hardcourt action in California and Florida.
Top-seed Nadal will defend his desert trophy after leading Spain into the Davis Cup quarter-finals over Novak Djokovic's Serbia.
Comfortable
The Spaniard joined Federer in the list of casualties from the Dubai Championships in February, but showed devastating touch at the weekend.
"My game felt much more secure," Nadal said. Whereas third-seed Djokovic comes to the Tennis Garden wondering what went wrong after losing both of his Davis matches.
The 21-year-old is adjusting to a new racket and yearning for the form which saw him win the Australian Open title at the start of 2008.
"I'm more comfortable with the racquet and comfortable on the court," said the 21-year-old. "I'm just trying to play the tennis that I played in the first part of the 2008.
"If I do so, I think I will be pretty successful."
Superiority
British fourth seed Andy Murray is also expected to play for the first time since withdrawing with a virus before his Dubai quarter-final showdown with Richard Gasquet.
Despite missing Great Britain's Davis Cup defeat to Ukraine, the Scot did get the all-clear from doctors as he tries to close the gap on Djokovic.
On the WTA circuit, number one Serena Williams and fifth-ranked sister Venus once again refused to attend the event in the wake of a perceived "racist" incident that occurred at the start of the decade at the venue.
In their absence, it will be a fight for superiority between Serbia's pair of Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic as well as the squad of Russians: Dinara Safina, Olympic gold medal winner Elena Dementieva, Vera Zvonareva and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
After not playing since August due to shoulder surgery, former number one Maria Sharapova will make a partial return, playing doubles with Elena Vesnina.
The 21-year-old, who has dropped to world No. 23, has been bothered by the nagging problem for two years.
