“Look, it takes its toll,” Federer said of the grueling men’s game. “It’s going to be interesting who picks it up faster of the two guys — Novak or Andy — now.”

For the moment, Federer is the one heading to Miami as the favorite and the one setting a torrid 2017 pace. He has said that he would not consider his comeback complete until after Miami. He has also said that his goal when he returned to the tour after a six-month layoff was to be ranked in the top eight at the end of Wimbledon in July.

But it is time for some new blueprints. He will be ranked No. 6 on Monday, one spot ahead of Rafael Nadal, his longtime rival whom he has beaten twice already this season. Federer also leads the 2017 points race by a huge margin over Nadal and Wawrinka.

“It’s great, but you definitely have to reassess your goals maybe now and see, where do you go from here?” Federer said. “Because this was not part of the plan, to win Australia and Indian Wells, I can tell you that.”

It has been a season of big surprises, and the women’s final that preceded Federer and Wawrinka produced another one when Elena Vesnina won the first big singles title of her long career by coming back from 1-4 down in the second set to defeat her fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-4, in a test of endurance and nerve that lasted 3 hours 2 minutes.

Vesnina, 30, definitely earned this unexpected title, defeating Angelique Kerber, Venus Williams and Kuznetsova — all Grand Slam singles champions — by playing consistently aggressive tennis on a court where playing conditions were quick in this year’s unusually intense heat.