Early years 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.
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. The statement was in reference to the USA F17 tournament that Baker went on to win. 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. In his third-round match, he beat Frenchman
Benoît Paire in four sets. Baker bowed out of the competition in the fourth round, losing in straight sets to
Philipp Kohlschreiber. 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. 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.
2014 Baker withdrew from the
2014 Australian Open, citing a knee injury.
2015–2017 He was granted a wild card into the main draw of the
2016 Australian Open after a nearly three-year injury layoff. 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 December 21, 2018 (back), delaying his comeback. ==Personal life==