The career of Brian Baker might have been something special if the American wasn’t blighted by so many injuries during his 12-year career.
Baker hasn’t played a match on the tour since August 2013 due a troublesome right knee injury. During his 2013 Australian Open campaign, Baker sustained a lateral meniscus tear to his right knee. The tear resulted in the 30-year-old playing in only three tournaments for the rest of that year. Despite the issue, Baker kept working hard on his game until he realised that the issue was worse than he feared.
“It turned into a cartilage defect. It wasn’t a huge one, but I ended up biting the bullet and having surgery out in Colorado at the Steadman Clinic in Vail. I had it New Year’s Eve last year, a procedure called DeNovo NT, where they basically take juvenile stem cells and glue them on to your defect”. Baker said during an interview with atpworldtour.com.
Baker is a former junior world No.2. During the 2003 Roland Garros boys tournament he defeated Sergiy Stakhovsky, Marcos Baghdatis and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach the final of the event. He was denied the title after losing in three sets to Stan Wawrinka. He also won the prestigious Orange Ball tournament in 2002.
Baker’s achievements on the junior circuit failed to progress to the pro tour. During the early stage of his career, Baker won his first Challenger title at the age of 19 at the 2004 ATP Denver Challenger. After three years on the tour, it appeared that Baker’s career might of been ended after a series of injuries sidelined him between 2007-2011. The injuries included the left hip (twice), the right hip, a sports hernia and elbow reconstruction.
During his four year absence, Baker worked as a coach and attended college but he still wasn’t done with life on the ATP Tour. His 2011 comeback was at a Futures event in Pittsburgh, where he claimed the title. The promising start to his comeback lead to Baker enjoying the best year of his career in 2012 when he clinched two Futures titles and one Challenger title. His biggest achievement that year was at the ATP Nice Open. As a qualifier, he successfully qualified for the main draw before producing a shock run to the final, losing to Nicolas Almagro. His run in Nice wasn’t just a one-off on the tour. During the 2012 Wimbledon championships he reached the fourth round, less than a year after returning to the sport. He achieved a ranking high of 52 in 2012. His positive performance during 2012 when then spoilt by injury in 2013.
When the American was forced to spend another lengthy period away from the sport due to injury, some expected that he may call it a day. They have however been proved wrong as Baker has confirmed that he will participate in the upcoming Australian Open. Using his protected ranking, Baker will enter after receiving medical approval. Looking ahead to his second comeback to the tour, the 30-year-old told ATP World Tour that he is realistic about what he might be able to achieve.
“I know I’m not going to be at my best in the early part of the year, but as long as I’m feeling strong and healthy my game will come around. I’ve never been concerned with that. I’m hitting the ball fine right now. It’s just a different animal. I haven’t played Top-50, Top-30 guys in a couple of years. It’s just going to be getting back to match tough, making sure I’m able to be smart about my schedule, my training and everything else. As I’ve shown over the years, I‘m definitely prone to injury. It’s just a matter of being smart about it. Hopefully, I can learn from my mistakes and just get lucky. Some of it has just been unlucky circumstances”. Baker said.
Since 2003 Baker has only played in eight Grand Slam main draws. His training base is in his home city of Nashville, however, he currently doesn’t have a coach to travel with him. It is unclear if Baker will enter any tournaments in the lead up to the Australian Open, which will get underway on January 18th.
