Jamie Baker (tennis)

Jamie Baker

Country	Great Britain
Residence	Glasgow, Scotland
Born	(1986-08-05) 5 August 1986 Glasgow, Scotland
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1]
Turned pro	2004
Retired	29 June 2013
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$401,380
Singles
Career record	7–20
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 185 (25 June 2012)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	1R (2008, 2013)
French Open	Q2 (2012)
Wimbledon	1R (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012)
US Open	Q3 (2007)
Doubles
Career record	1–3
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 306 (1 November 2010)
Last updated on: 5 February 2014.

Jamie Baker (born 5 August 1986 in Glasgow) is a retired British professional male tennis player.

Career

Junior

Jamie started playing tennis at the age of four. He had a fairly successful junior career, peaking as high as 6 in the junior ITF rankings. He reached the quarter-finals of junior Wimbledon in 2004, and in the same year won the 18 and under national championships. He won a grade 1 junior event in Venezuela, before turning professional at the age of 18.

2005–07

In 2005 Jamie began playing on the futures and challengers tours. His most successful challenger result was a quarter-final at the Burnie Challenger in February 2006. He made his ATP Tour debut by virtue of wild cards at the 2006 Artois Championship and played at the 2006 Wimbledon Championships, before making his debut for the Great Britain Davis Cup team in September 2006 in the crucial relegation play-off against the Ukraine. Great Britain won the tie 3–2, although Jamie lost his match, the fifth rubber, 6–3 7–6 against Sergei Bubka.

In 2007 Baker continued in Challenger tournaments, reaching the final in Waikoloa and making semi finals at places like Lexington and Knowville. He also achieved his first ATP Tour victory, against Alexander Peya, at the 2007 Artois Championships. He made a second Davis Cup appearance in the World Group Play-off against Croatia on No. 1 Court, Wimbledon in September 2007. This time he lost his rubber 6–4 6–4 against Marin Čilić. Britain won the tie 4–1 and qualified for the 2008 World Group. He finished the season ranked as Britain's number 3 player.

In November 2007 he was invited to practice with Pete Sampras at his home.

2008

Baker made a positive start to 2008 by qualifying for the Australian Open. He disposed of 9th seed (Q) Yuri Shukin 6–2 6–0 and then battling past Alexander Peya 6–4 7–6 to reach the final round where he defeated Daniel Köllerer 6–4 6–4. Though he was defeated in the first round by Ivo Karlović, his result of 6–4 6–4 6–7 6–4 was described as highly creditable^[2] Baker later played in his first 'live' Davis Cup rubber in the World Group match against Argentina. Though he lost the opener to David Nalbandian (#9), he gained his first Davis Cup win by beating Agustín Calleri (#41) in the final tie of the match. Following the Davis Cup, Jamie won 2 consecutive titles in $15,000 Futures Tournaments in Brownsville, Texas and Harlingen, Texas.

Baker contracted Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP) in April 2008,^[3] and had to spend three days in intensive care in Florida. Fellow Scot Jamie Murray noted that he was lucky to be alive. Baker had been likely to miss Wimbledon as a result,^[4] but was granted a wildcard for the tournament. He lost in the first round 4–6 2–6 3–6 to the Italian Stefano Galvani.^[5] His second half of 2008 was disappointing, with his ranking falling to 427 by the year's end.

2009

Singles

Baker began the 2009 season playing on the futures tour, but won just twice in his first six tournaments of the year.^[6] In July he reached the semi-final of the Gyeongsan event in Korea and in August reached the same stage of two tournaments in Thailand, before winning the event in Nonthaburi, Thailand at the end of the month.^[1][6] In September and October he played four futures events in Australia, winning in two and was runner-up in the others. Following this he returned to the challenger tour, losing his first qualifying match in Charlottesville to Jermaine Jenkins. A week later he qualified for the main draw in Knoxville and won his first round tie against Raven Klaasen before losing to Taylor Dent in the second round.^[6] He also reached the second round of the events in Champaign, Illinois and Puebla, Mexico later in November.^[6]

Doubles

Baker partnered fellow Briton Chris Eaton at the start of the year, the pair winning the Glasgow futures event.^[7] They lost in the first round of their next event. Baker partnered Australian Mark McCook in Korea, but again lost in the first round. In August he resumed his partnership with Eaton and they reached the final of the Great Britain 11 futures event. In his next two doubles events, Baker partnered Australian Dane Propoggia, reaching the final of the first futires event, but losing in the first round of the second. With his move up to the Challenger tour, Baker partnered Australian Nima Roshan in Puebla, reaching the semi-final.^[7]

2010

Rather than begin the year in Australia trying to qualify for the Australian Open, Baker chose to play in Futures events in the United Kingdom.^[8] He reached the final of the first one, losing to Chris Eaton in Glasgow.^[3]

2013

Baker qualified for the main draw of the 2013 Australian Open, beating Donald Young in three sets in the final qualifier.^[9] He was defeated by Lukáš Rosol of the Czech Republic in the first round. On 29th June Baker announced his retirement from tennis.^[10]

Singles Grand Slam performance timeline

Current through the 2013 Australian Open.

Notes

External links

• Jamie Baker at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Jamie Baker at the International Tennis Federation
• Jamie Baker at the Davis Cup
• Baker Recent Match Results
• Baker World Ranking History
• LTA Profile

v t e Association of Tennis Professionals: Top ten British male singles tennis players as of 3 February 2014 1. Andy Murray (6 ) 2. Daniel Evans (147 1) 3. James Ward (156 19) 4. Daniel Cox (247 2) 5. David Rice (307 10) 6. Kyle Edmund (318 18) 7. Edward Corrie (320 24) 8. Daniel Smethurst (341 36) 9. Marcus Willis (393 10) 10. Oliver Golding (400 2)