The Wonder That Tennis Forgot

He is the unfrozen phenom. Brian Baker was going to be a tennis star. That's where this was headed. A decade ago, Baker was one of the best junior tennis players in the world, the wiry kid from Nashville, Tenn., with the punishing game, so good he would later reach the boys' final of the French Open in 2003. His early résumé contained wins over characters you may know. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Tomas Berdych. Novak Djokovic. That's right. The Djoker, the relentless No. 1 in the world, winner of four of the last five Grand Slams. That guy. Baker passed on college scholarships and pushed right into the pros. He had a clothing deal and a racket deal and a future. Life was good.

Ten years ago, Brian Baker was one of the best junior tennis players in the world. But then Baker's body disobeyed him. Maybe "abandoned" is a better word. First Baker hurt his wrist, and missed 10 weeks. Then, in a qualifying match at Wimbledon versus Djokovic, Baker tore his MCL. This actually wasn't so bad. Baker rehabbed his knee and resumed playing, but began feeling pain in his left hip. Hip surgery followed. Then, surgery for a sports hernia. All the while Baker's elbow was nagging at him, especially on his serve. That led to Tommy John surgery on his elbow. Then more hip surgery—another procedure for the left hip, and the right hip as well. It was a spectacular run of medical intervention. Baker won a Grand Slam in the OR.

At this point Baker was 23. Recovery from these latest surgeries was going to take a while. He enrolled in college, back home in Nashville, at Belmont University, the geezer freshman in class. He worked as an assistant coach with the school's tennis team, keeping a foot dangled in the game. He wasn't totally out of tennis, but he wasn't totally in it, either. Meanwhile, players he once handled were ascending to the top of the sport. Baker said he doesn't "like to play the guessing game too much," but he couldn't help but notice.
"You do think about it, especially for the first couple of years," Baker said. He is 27 years old now. He was sitting at a table not far from the tennis courts at Saddlebrook Resort outside Tampa. He looked tan and fit. "You see all these guys having success. Could that have been me?"

For the complete article by Jason Gay in the Wall Street Journal, please click here.