When Felix Auger-Aliassime made his Indian Wells debut as a 17-year-old in 2018, it appeared evident that he would one day be a star on the ATP Tour.

The 6-foot-4 Canadian entered the main draw as a qualifier and beat fellow countryman Vasek Pospisil before falling to another Canadian, Milos Raonic, in the Round of 64. It felt like we were getting a sneak peek into the future.

Auger-Aliassime won a pair of matches a year later, at 18, at the BNP Paribas Open and was set for what some believed was a major breakthrough before the professional tennis tours were rocked by the cancellation of tournaments amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now 21, Auger-Aliassime is not only the top-ranked Canadian man at Indian Wells, he’s seeded seventh at an event that will not have top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who won three Grand Slams this year, and icons Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. If there’s a breakthrough to be had in the California desert, this year may be the best year for an opportunistic player to have it.

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“It was going to come, eventually,” Auger-Aliassime said. “It’s kind of a change in generation. Novak is still No. 1 at the top and Roger and Rafa, we’ll see how they come back but they’ve done it so many times in the past in their careers and they’re going to be tough to beat always, as long as they play.”

The last time Federer, Nadal and Djokovic were all absent from this tournament was 2000, five months before Auger-Aliassime was born. Since then, the trio have won 13 of the last 16 men’s singles titles here at Indian Wells.

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Auger-Aliassime is among several players who will offer spectators a glimpse at the next generation of men’s tennis stars. As Auger-Aliassime is aware, and pointed out, the average age of the top eight seeds here is 23.

“It’s an interesting time,” said Paul Annacone, a tennis coach and former player who is covering the event for Tennis Channel. “Now is a great opportunity for so many of the young players.”

Auger-Aliassime has had mixed results the second half of the year. He lost to 198-ranked Max Purcell in his first match at the Tokyo Olympics and in his first match in Toronto, to 44th-ranked Dusan Lajovic, yet beat eighth-ranked Matteo Berrettini to advance to the quarterfinals in Cincinnati and he reached the semifinals at the US Open last month, falling to eventual champion Daniil Medvedev.

But he leads a contingent of Canadian players who are surging at the moment. Even without, Raonic, who is rehabbing a calf injury, it's possible that Canada has never been better represented at the BNP Paribas Open.

Bianca Andreescu, who is ranked 21st, is back as the returning champion of the women’s draw at Indian Wells and 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez, ranked 28th, will make her debut here coming off a U.S. Open final appearance.

Andreescu, 21, was the first Canadian woman or man to win a singles title at the BNP Paribas Open. Auger-Aliassime and seventh-seeded Denis Shapovalov, 22, could follow Andreescu’s lead and become the first Canadian man to win here.

“For me, personally, the challenge is big,” Auger-Aliassime said. “But at the same time motivation is big as well to play well to put myself with the best players in the world.”

Andrew John covers sports for The Desert Sun and the USA Today Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com and find him on Twitter at @Andrew_L_John.