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Brian Baker (tennis)

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Brian Baker
Baker at the 2016 French Open.
Country (sports) United States
ResidenceNashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Born (1985-04-30) April 30, 1985 (age 39)
Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Height6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Turned pro2003
Retired2017
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$1,184,653
Singles
Career record20–40
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 52 (October 29, 2012)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open2R (2013)
French Open2R (2012)
Wimbledon4R (2012)
US Open2R (2005, 2012)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games1R (2016)
Doubles
Career record35–33
Career titles2
Highest rankingNo. 29 (May 22, 2017)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open3R (2017)
French Open3R (2016)
Wimbledon1R (2016)
US Open3R (2013, 2016)
Other doubles tournaments
Olympic Games2R (2016)
Last updated on: August 30, 2018.

Brian Richard Baker (born April 30, 1985) is an American retired professional tennis player from Nashville, Tennessee.

Junior career

As a junior player, Baker won the 2002 Orange Bowl. In 2003, he reached the boys' singles final of the French Open after beating Marcos Baghdatis in the quarterfinals and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semifinals. In the final, he lost to Stan Wawrinka.[1] Baker reached No. 2 in singles and No. 5 in doubles in the junior world rankings.

Pro career

Early career

Baker's biggest win of his fledgling career occurred in August 2005, when he scored an upset victory over ninth-seeded Gastón Gaudio in the 2005 US Open.[2] The victory was Baker's first Grand Slam win.[2] Baker originally played on the tour for only a short time, from 2002 through 2005, as well as participating in three autumn Challenger events in 2007.[3] He won one Challenger event in singles (and three in doubles) during this time and reached a career-best singles ranking of world No. 172 on November 15, 2004. He was coached by Ricardo Acuña.[citation needed]

In 2007, he was sidelined for nearly six years after five surgeries—three on his hip, one on his elbow, and one sports hernia—and did not play on the tour again until 2011.[4][5]

Return to professional tennis

While coaching tennis at Belmont University, Baker began to feel his body gradually improving and decided to try again to make it as a professional tennis player in the summer of 2011.[6][7] He subsequently entered an ITF Futures tournament in Pittsburgh in July 2011 as an unranked qualifier, qualified, and won the tournament, all without dropping a set.[8] In September, he entered the Canadian Futures 7 and reached the semifinals, again without dropping a set. He lost in a walkover to Jesse Levine.[9] Two months later, in November 2011, Baker entered the 2011 Knoxville Challenger, and qualified for the tournament after straight-set victories over Jordan Cox, Tim Smyczek and Michael McClune. He went on to win his next four matches,[10] before losing to Jesse Levine in the final.[8]

2012

Baker during his second round match at the 2012 French Open.

Baker won three Futures and Challenger tournaments early in 2012 before returning to the ATP Tour: USA F3 and F8, and Sarasota.[citation needed]

After winning the Savannah Challenger, beating Augustin Gensse in the final in April 2012, he was awarded a wild card for the 2012 French Open.[4] In response to this, Baker's good friend Amer Delić noted an inconvenient truth about the situation by tweeting, "Brian Baker... Same guy that USTA refused to give a WC for qualies of the clay court Future last summer..."[11] The statement was in reference to the USA F17 tournament that Baker went on to win.[citation needed]

Shortly before the French Open, he qualified for the 2012 Open de Nice Côte d'Azur in May, beating Ilija Bozoljac, David Guez, and Alejandro González in the qualification rounds, all in straight sets.[8] Baker then faced Sergey Stakhovsky in the first round, losing the first set before recovering to win the match. A straight sets victory against Gaël Monfils meant that Baker progressed to the quarterfinals of the tournament.[12] Hard-fought wins over Mikhail Kukushkin and Nikolay Davydenko took Baker to his first ATP final on a 15-match winning streak going into the match.[13] He ultimately lost to Nicolás Almagro, the repeat champion, in the final. After his surprising performance, he reached his highest singles ranking at No. 141.[14]

Just two days after the final in Nice, Baker headed to Paris for the French Open. He beat Xavier Malisse in straight sets in the first round, before losing to Gilles Simon in the second round in five sets. Despite the defeat, Baker's appearance in the tournament was described as "one of the most remarkable comebacks of modern times."[14]

Two weeks after the French Open, Baker qualified for the 2012 Wimbledon Championships after beating Radu Albot, Denis Gremelmayr, and Maxime Teixeira in the qualification rounds. He secured a straight-set victory over Rui Machado in his first-round match before dismissing Jarkko Nieminen, also in straight sets, to progress to the third round.[15][16] In his third-round match, he beat Frenchman Benoît Paire in four sets.[4] Baker bowed out of the competition in the fourth round, losing in straight sets to Philipp Kohlschreiber.[17] On his performance at Wimbledon, Baker stated - "It's been an unbelievable run. I don't know if I put an expectation like I need to get to this round or not. But I don't know if starting first round qualifiers I would have thought I would have got to the fourth round of Wimbledon".[17]

After starting the North American hard-court season with a string of four first-round losses to lower-ranked players, Baker pulled off another remarkable upset, gaining revenge by beating world No. 17 (and recent Wimbledon quarterfinalist) Philipp Kohlschreiber in the first round of the Cincinnati Masters. He subsequently lost to Australian Bernard Tomic in the second round. At the 2012 US Open, he matched his best US Open and Grand Slam performance from before his injuries, reaching the second round. He defeated Jan Hájek before falling to eighth seed Janko Tipsarević.

During the indoor hard-court season, Baker qualified (as the top qualifying seed) for the ATP 500 tournament Beijing, losing in the first round to Kevin Anderson. He then qualified for the Shanghai Masters, losing to 11th seed Richard Gasquet in the opening round. After these consecutive first-round losses, Baker pulled off a remarkable comeback by winning against Radek Štěpánek in Basel, after being a set and a double-break down. Baker lost in the second round to eventual champion Juan Martín del Potro.[citation needed]

He ended 2012 ranked world No. 61, after reaching a career-high ranking of world No. 52 in October.[citation needed]

2013

In the Heineken Open in Auckland, Baker upset fifth seed (and recent Paris Masters finalist) Jerzy Janowicz in the first round. He converted 2 out of 17 break points and finally won on his eighth match point.[18]

In the second round of the Australian Open, Baker led 20th seed Sam Querrey 7–6(2), 1–1 before a knee injury forced him to retire. This was later diagnosed as a torn meniscus, which put Baker off the tour for about four months.[19]

Baker made his return in Aptos. losing to Guido Pella. He then lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters. At the U.S Open. he was defeated by Lleyton Hewitt in the first round.

He ended 2013 ranked world No. 359.[20]

2014

Baker withdrew from the 2014 Australian Open, citing a knee injury.[21]

2015–2017

He was granted a wild card into the main draw of the 2016 Australian Open after a nearly three-year injury layoff.[22]

In August 2016, he lost in the Round of 16 of the Tennis at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's doubles partnering with Rajeev Ram. They faced off against the Austrian team of Oliver Marach and Alexander Peya.

In February 2017, he won his maiden ATP Tour title at the Memphis Open in doubles partnering Nikola Mektić. They faced off against compatriots Ryan Harrison and Steve Johnson in the final. He won his second doubles title in Budapest in April, again partnering with Mektić.

2018

Baker underwent his 14th major surgery on 21 December 2018 (back), delaying his comeback.[23]

Personal life

Baker was as an assistant coach for the Belmont University men's tennis program for four years.[24] He studied toward business and finance degrees at the university.[25]

ATP career finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)
ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0)
ATP World Tour 250 Series (0–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 May 2012 Open de Nice Côte d'Azur, France 250 Series Clay Spain Nicolás Almagro 3–6, 2–6

Doubles: 2 (2 titles)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)
ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0)
ATP World Tour 250 Series (2–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–0)
Clay (1–0)
Grass (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Feb 2017 Memphis Open, United States 250 Series Hard (i) Croatia Nikola Mektić United States Ryan Harrison
United States Steve Johnson 		6–3, 6–4
Win 2–0 Apr 2017 Hungarian Open, Hungary 250 Series Clay Croatia Nikola Mektić Colombia Juan Sebastián Cabal
Colombia Robert Farah 		7–6(7–2), 6–4

ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 10 (6 titles, 4 runner-ups)

ATP Challenger (2–2)
ITF Futures (4–2)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Apr 2003 Little Rock, United States Futures Hard Argentina Ignacio Hirigoyen 6–3, 5–7, 3–6
Win 1–1 Jan 2004 Tampa, United States Futures Hard United States Todd Widom 6–3, 6–4
Loss 1–2 May 2004 Tampa, United States Futures Hard United States K. J. Hippensteel 6–1, 6–7(5–7), 2–6
Win 1–0 Aug 2004 Denver, United States Challenger Hard United States K. J. Hippensteel 7–6(7–5), 6–4
Loss 1–1 May 2005 Tunica Resorts, United States Challenger Clay United States James Blake 2–6, 3–6
Win 2–2 Jul 2011 Pittsburgh, United States Futures Clay United States Bjorn Fratangelo 7–5, 6–3
Loss 1–2 Nov 2011 Knoxville, United States Challenger Hard United States Jesse Levine 2–6, 3–6
Win 3–2 Jan 2012 Weston, United States Futures Clay Australia Jason Kubler 7–5, 6–3
Win 4–2 Mar 2012 Costa Mesa, United States Futures Hard United States Greg Ouellette 6–1, 6–2
Win 2–2 Apr 2012 Savannah, United States Challenger Clay France Augustin Gensse 6–4, 6–3

Doubles: 15 (11 titles, 4 runner-ups)

ATP Challenger (8–2)
ITF Futures (3–2)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Apr 2002 Elkin, United States Futures Hard United States Rajeev Ram United States Huntley Montgomery
United States Tripp Phillips 		6–2, 4–6, 4–6
Loss 0–2 Nov 2002 Hattiesburg, United States Futures Hard United States Rajeev Ram United States Huntley Montgomery
United States Tripp Phillips 		3–6, 1–6
Win 1–2 May 2003 Orange Park, United States Futures Clay United States Phillip Simmonds United States Brendan Evans
South Africa Marcos Ondruska 		4–6, 7–5, 6–4
Win 2–2 Oct 2003 Arlington, United States Futures Hard United States Bobby Reynolds United States Hamid Mirzadeh
United States Vahid Mirzadeh 		6–2, 6–2
Loss 0–1 Nov 2003 Champaign, United States Challenger Hard (i) United States Rajeev Ram United States Travis Parrott
Brazil Bruno Soares 		6–4, 4–6, 1–6
Win 3–2 Jan 2004 Tampa, United States Futures Hard United States Rajeev Ram United States Huntley Montgomery
United States Tripp Phillips 		6–3, 3–6, 6–2
Loss 0–2 Feb 2004 Joplin, United States Challenger Hard (i) United States Rajeev Ram Chinese Taipei Yen-Hsun Lu
Brazil Bruno Soares 		6–3, 1–6, 1–6
Win 1–2 Jul 2004 Granby, Canada Challenger Hard Canada Frank Dancevic Canada Harel Levy
Italy Davide Sanguinetti 		6–2, 7–6(7–5)
Win 2–2 Aug 2004 Denver, United States Challenger Hard United States Rajeev Ram United Kingdom Jamie Delgado
United Kingdom Jonathan Marray 		6–2, 6–2
Win 3–2 Nov 2004 Champaign, United States Challenger Hard (i) United States Rajeev Ram United States Justin Gimelstob
United States Graydon Oliver 		7–6(7–5), 7–6(9–7)
Win 4–2 Apr 2016 Savannah, United States Challenger Hard (i) United States Ryan Harrison India Purav Raja
India Divij Sharan 		5–7, 7–6(7–4), [10–8]
Win 5–2 Oct 2016 Stockton, United States Challenger Hard Australia Sam Groth Australia Matt Reid
Australia John-Patrick Smith 		6–2, 4–6, [10–2]
Win 6–2 Oct 2016 Fairfield, United States Challenger Hard United States Mackenzie McDonald United States Sekou Bangoura
United States Eric Quigley 		6–3, 6–4
Win 7–2 Oct 2016 Las Vegas, United States Challenger Hard Australia Matt Reid United States Bjorn Fratangelo
United States Denis Kudla 		6–1, 7–5
Win 8–2 Nov 2016 Charlottesville, United States Challenger Hard (i) Australia Sam Groth United Kingdom Brydan Klein
South Africa Ruan Roelofse 		6–3, 6–3

Junior Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Result Year Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 2003 French Open Clay Switzerland Stan Wawrinka 5–7, 6–4, 3–6

Doubles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

Result Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 2002 Wimbledon Hard United States Rajeev Ram Romania Florin Mergea
Romania Horia Tecău 		4–6, 6–4, 4–6
Loss 2002 US Open Hard Australia Chris Guccione Netherlands Michel Koning
Netherlands Bas van der Valk 		4–6, 4–6

Performance timelines

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

Tournament 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 SR W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A Q1 A A A A A A A 2R A A 1R Q1 0 / 2 1–2
French Open A A A A Q1 A A A A A A 2R A A A 1R A 0 / 2 1–2
Wimbledon A A A A Q1 A A A A A A 4R A A A 1R A 0 / 2 3–2
US Open Q1 Q1 1R 1R 2R A A A A A A 2R 1R A A 1R A 0 / 6 2–6
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–1 1–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 5–3 1–2 0–0 0–0 0–4 0–0 0 / 12 7–12
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters A A Q1 A A A A A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0
Miami Open A Q1 Q1 1R A A A A A A A A A A A 1R A 0 / 2 0–2
Cincinnati Masters A A A A A A A A A A A 2R 2R A A Q2 A 0 / 2 2–2
Shanghai Masters Not Held A A A 1R A A A A A 0 / 1 0–1
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–2 1–1 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 0 / 5 2–5
National representation
Summer Olympics Not Held A Not Held A Not Held A Not Held 1R NH 0 / 1 0–1
Career statistics
Tournaments 0 1 3 5 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 5 0 0 10 0 40
Titles / Finals 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 1
Overall win–loss 0–0 0–1 0–3 2–5 2–3 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 11–13 3–5 0–0 0–0 2–10 0–0 20–40
Year-end ranking N/A 614 422 178 205 N/A 842 N/A N/A N/A 456 61 359 N/A N/A 245 1129 33%

Doubles

Tournament 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 SR W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A A A A A A A A A A A 1R 3R A 0 / 2 2–2
French Open A A A A A A A A A A A A A A 3R 1R A 0 / 2 2–2
Wimbledon A A A A A A A A A A A A A A 1R A A 0 / 1 0–1
US Open A A 2R 1R A A A A A A 2R 3R A A 3R 1R A 0 / 6 6–6
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 1–1 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–1 2–1 0–0 0–0 4–4 2–3 0–0 0 / 11 10–11
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Miami Open 1R A A A A A A A A A A A A A A SF A 0 / 2 2–2
Madrid Open A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A 2R A 0 / 1 1–1
Italian Open A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A 2R A 0 / 1 1–1
Cincinnati Masters A A A A A A A A A A 2R 1R A A 2R A A 0 / 3 2–3
Win–loss 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–1 0–1 0–0 0–0 1–1 4–3 0–0 0 / 7 6–7
National representation
Summer Olympics Not Held A Not Held A Not Held A Not Held 2R Not Held 0 / 1 1–1
Career statistics
Tournaments 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 3 0 0 10 14 0 35
Titles / Finals 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 2 / 2 0 / 0 2 / 2
Overall win–loss 0–1 0–0 1–2 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 3–4 2–3 0–0 0–0 8–10 21–12 0–0 35–33
Year-end ranking 776 400 120 487 N/A 1552 N/A N/A N/A N/A 261 346 N/A N/A 69 43 N/A 51%

Wins over top-10 players

# Player Rank Event Surface Rd Score BB Rank
2005
1. Argentina Gastón Gaudio 9 US Open, New York, United States Hard 1R 7–6(11–9), 6–2, 6–4 195

References

  1. ^ Lee, Veronica (July 1, 2012). "Baker keeps fabulous story rolling". The Independent. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  2. ^ a b "Brian Baker Stuns Gaudio in Debut At Grand Slam". New York Sun. August 30, 2005. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  3. ^ "Pro Circuit – Brian Baker". ITF. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  4. ^ a b c "Wimbledon 2012: Lukas Rosol loses after Rafael Nadal heroics". BBC Sport. BBC. June 30, 2012. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  5. ^ Washington Post article[dead link]
  6. ^ "Long Road For Brian Baker". ESPN. June 30, 2012. Archived from the original on July 2, 2012. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  7. ^ "Wimbledon 2012: Brian Baker on unlikely comeback". BBC Sport. June 30, 2012. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  8. ^ a b c "Brian Baker – ATP Profile". ATP. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
  9. ^ "Polansky into NB Futures final | Love Means Nothing". Archived from the original on April 5, 2012. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
  10. ^ "Mr. Comeback Brian Baker to face unseeded Jesse Levine in Challenger finals". Knox News. November 12, 2011. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
  11. ^ "Tennis birthdays – April 30, 2012 | Montreal Gazette". Archived from the original on July 15, 2012.
  12. ^ "Baker stuns Monfils in Nice". Press Association. May 23, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
  13. ^ "U.S.'s Brian Baker into Nice final". ESPN. May 26, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
  14. ^ a b "Battling Baker is back – after nine years and three hip operations". The Independent. May 31, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
  15. ^ "Wimbledon 2012: Brian Baker makes up for lost time against Nieminen". The Guardian. June 29, 2012. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
  16. ^ "Dream Run For Brian Baker". ESPN. June 28, 2012. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  17. ^ a b "Wimbledon 2012: Brian Baker goes out but with renewed hope for future". The Guardian. July 3, 2012. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
  18. ^ Long, David (2013). "The Fabulous Baker Boy", stuff.co.nz, January 7, 2013.
  19. ^ "Are you kidding me?": Luckless Brian Baker succumbs to injury on Australian Open debut, The Mirror, January 16, 2013.
  20. ^ "Brian Baker | Rankings History | ATP Tour | Tennis".
  21. ^ "Brian Baker Withdraws from Australian Open with Knee Injury | STEVE G TENNIS".
  22. ^ "Brian Baker Set to Return at Australian Open | ATP Tour | Tennis".
  23. ^ Resiliency: My Battle with Injuries, tennistakes.com, accessed 7th January 2019.
  24. ^ "Belmont Bruins". Archived from the original on March 20, 2012. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
  25. ^ "Wimbledon: Brian Baker savouring second tilt at big time as comeback gathers pace". Scotsman. June 30, 2012. Retrieved June 30, 2012.
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