“Being Top 100, it’s such a grind physically on tour sometimes, you don’t really need to be a better player you just need to play more tournaments feeling better.”

Brian Baker joins the TENNIS.com Podcast this week with co-hosts Nina Pantic and Irina Falconi. The trio met up while in Lake Nona, Fla. at the USTA National Campus, where Baker is a national men’s coach.

Baker took his talents to the pro tour as a teenager in 2002. He would reach as high as No. 52 in the world, and won two doubles ATP titles in 2017. But the 34-year-old might be most well-known for his injury setbacks.

His struggles began back in 2005 with a wrist injury. A torn MCL at Wimbledon—at the start of a qualifying match against Novak Djokovic—became the catalyst for more problems that would keep him off the tour for six years. He’s had 15 surgeries in total, dealing with wrist, knee, back, elbow and hip injuries.

He made multiple memorable comebacks including in 2011 and 2016, which resulted in two huge career highlights: reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2012 and earning a spot on the Rio Olympic team in 2016.

Watch TENNIS.com Podcast episodes on YouTube and Facebook.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brian Baker on dealing with the physical grind of the tour