WHEN Roger Federer bounced like a kangaroo after winning the Australian Open tennis final in Melbourne at the weekend, he was celebrating a triumph even greater than winning his first grand slam in five years. What could be more important, you might ask, than taking this title? For most players it would be an achievement to savour for the rest of their life, whether it be their first or, as for him, the 18th trophy in the cabinet.

Federer’s victory, however, proved more than prowess. This glittering prize was tangible evidence of the remarkable endurance and willpower possessed by a man who had spent the previous six months recovering from injury. When the competition began, Federer, at 35, was dismissed by some as washed-up. By reaching the final and beating his long-time rival Rafa Nadal, he answered his critics in the most eloquent manner possible.

The disbelief in his eyes also suggested he had silenced his own nagging doubts. In so doing he struck a blow against what you could call the new glass ceiling: advancing age and the prejudice it breeds.

As with all sport, a tennis player’s life, like that of a dog, passes at accelerated speed. Experts would have you believe that the likes of Federer and Serena Williams, who won the Melbourne Ladies Singles grand slam the day before and at the same age, should consider retiring. Twice the age – and then some – of the newest arrivals on court, they ought to bow out, dignity intact, and reinvent themselves as coaches, or commentators or, pace Bjorn Borg, lend their name to designer underwear.

Williams already has a fashion line, of course, but that does not explain why, after securing her 23rd grand-slam title, far from hanging up her trainers she has instead vowed to become “even better”. No-one who watched her on Saturday thinks it likely she will be knocked from her pedestal anytime soon.

Nor is it just on the tennis circuit that the years are slowing down. Ryan Giggs defied the odds in football by playing in the Premier League until he was 40. My in-house pundit tells me that, at 37, Kenny Miller is thought to be playing better than ever. Meanwhile, Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon, who 10 years ago would have been considered almost a fossil, is being courted by Chelsea at the age of 34, suggesting he is far from finished.

For those like me whose knowledge of sport is shallower than a bird bath, the details of championships, bids and records are not what matters. Individually, each is simply a feel-good story. Cumulatively, however, such examples of enduring resilience and skill are painting a picture that casts the world in a new and brighter light.

This is true, whatever line you’re in. Whether it’s the 89-year-old waiter employed in a Devon cafe, Dame Julia Peyton-Jones, former director of the Serpentine Gallery, starting a family at 64, or the evergreen David Attenborough broadcasting into his 90s, age is under attack on almost every front. Boundaries are being pushed, expectations confounded and preconceptions challenged. It is no longer a given that, when the hour strikes 63 or 65, one will tidy the desk and leave. The tyranny of advancing years is losing its grip.

Jessie Kesson once said, “I’ve told so many lies about my age I’ve made my children illegitimate”. Who can blame her? In fact, I wish I’d done the same. It could turn you white overnight seeing the date on your birth certificate. But there is a silver army proudly declaring that “age is only a number”, and that “you’re only as old as you feel”.

I’ve always disliked these phrases, thinking of those in poor health who would love to be able to assert mind over matter and skip down the road in high heels or roar away on a motorbike. For them, age has not come alone and must be negotiated, not ignored.

Yet while some are not in a position to defy the biological clock, far more of us are much more youthful than our parents or grandparents were at our stage of life. Federer and Williams have shown that, in the world of sport, 35 is the new 30. Meanwhile, as women give birth at 50 and beyond, horizons and aspirations are growing more elastic.

One can debate the rights and wrongs of menopausal motherhood but that women are prepared to take that risk speaks volumes not only for medical advances but also for the changing landscape around us. Because wherever you look, the so-called elderly are behaving as if there is no tomorrow.

The only thing is, you may not have noticed. Years of indoctrination mean we overlook or airbrush the white-haired and hirpling. No wonder the Hatton Garden robbers nearly got away with it. What better disguise than being an OAP, the very definition of harmless? How mistaken that is. Indeed, the over 65s in Japan are so healthy and active it has been proposed that the term elderly should not be used until they reach 75. After 65, they ought instead to be referred to as “semi-elderly”. The expression might not trip off the tongue in translation but you have to applaud the concept.

The idea it embodies is of a fully engaged generation, some of whom will work part or full-time well into what used to be considered one’s twilight years. Increasingly, that is becoming the case here as well.

The extending of career and working life has understandably ruffled feathers among those obliged to slog on longer to receive their pensions. One understands their sense of injustice. If you are healthy, though, is it not better to have the prospect of a regular income and deferred old age than to hurry into the autumn and winter of life? Some I know who took early retirement on a good pension, around 50, now live a greatly diminished life.

They leave the house only to go the bookmakers or golf course or tearoom and have aged faster, mentally at least, than those still at the coal face. They, for all of their complaints, seem to enjoy their jobs.

In his post-match interview, Federer showed the self-knowledge and wisdom that come with maturity. “I have only so much tennis left in me,” he acknowledged. This hints that, in future, he will pace himself, aware he is not as robust as before. His philosophy works for other occupations too.

As the years advance, we should adjust to make the most of the benefits and limitations of seniority. Enlightened employers already recognise the value of older workers’ knowledge and insight. With the ageing population beginning to burgeon, there will have to be a greater acceptance of flexible roles and job sharing for those who wish to continue in employment, but in a lower gear.

The benefits to the economy and society of this sort of arrangement don’t need to be spelled out. Meanwhile, I will continue listening to swamp pop star Tommy McLain (check him out!) singing, “I’m gonna do everything silver and gold, Got to hurry up before I grow too old”; Could be there’s not such a rush after all.