Roger Federer has been in inspired form in 2017.

He has risen ten places in the world rankings this year from 16th all the way up to sixth, winning the Australian Open on the way.

On his way to winning Down Under, Federer dispatched Tomas Berdych, Kei Nishikori, and Stan Wawrinka, before beating long-time rival Rafael Nadal in the final.

2017 was meant to be a continuation of the fine form of Andy Murray, but Federer has come in and spoiled the party.

Federer’s form continued into the Indian Wells Masters, where, without Andy Murray or Novak Djokovic to get in his way, he went on to win the title, beating fellow countryman Stan Wawrinka, who must be getting tired of Federer by now.

Federer hasn’t been gliding through opponents quite how he used to, however, but he is still winning games. It doesn’t matter how, or how long it takes him.

This couldn’t be truer than in his latest venture at the Miami Open, where most recently, he beat 14th seed Roberto Bautista-Agut.

Sure, Federer won in straight sets, but he had to battle for the points, with each set going to a tie-break.

Tell you what, the crowd loved seeing Federer play Bautista-Agut, and with a rally like the one below, who can blame them?

The commentary team proclaimed that there was "magic in Miami", and they were right. Federer's cool dispatch of a determined Bautista-Agut in this rally is a sight to behold.

Bautista-Agut was determined not to slip up, to return every shot, but everything he had, Federer gave a simple, yet effective reply. Federer's backhand to win the point was precision tennis at its best. He gave Bautista-Agut no chance with it.

Playing tennis like this is helping Federer and his fans to roll back the years.

The 35-year-old has had a staggeringly impressive career and dominated the men's game for long periods, but recently Djokovic and Murray had been stealing the limelight.

Last year, Federer was recovering from bad injury problems, including surgery that had to be performed on his knee. It was a poor year from one of tennis' most enduring and endearing stars.

It's safe to say, however, that while he may not be as dominating on the courts as he once was, everyone's been enjoying his rise from the ashes of 2016 this year.

It's great to have a legend like Federer back winning titles.