Despite enjoying the most successful spell of his professional career, Jamie Baker believes that the best thing that has happened to him recently was a defeat.

In a two-month, five-event stretch on the Futures tour in Thailand and Australia, Baker won 31 of 35 matches, winning two titles and reaching another final and a semi-final.

Back in Glasgow for a break before he takes his game to the next level, a four-tournament sequence in the Challenger Series in America and Mexico, the former Great Britain No.2 is under no illusions about the challenge he faces as he bids to complete his recovery from illness and injury.

“I believe that my defeat last Sunday in my last Australian Futures final to Matt Ebdon was probably the best thing that could have happened to me,” he said. “I didn’t play well enough to feel invincible and that is no bad thing. So I know that I have work to do to make the step up to Challenger Series level. I am delighted with the way the last five weeks have gone but I still have an awful lot of work to do and you could say the defeat gave me a reality check.”

Baker had to attend a Glasgow hospital on Wednesday to have his platelet levels tested as he recovers from blood disease ITP.

“Before I got ITP I qualified for the Australian Open and took a set off Ivo Karlovic, who was in the top 20 at the time, so it is impossible to say if I am close to that level,” he added. “The bigger picture for me is about putting a game together that is going to get me as far as my potential will allow me to go. It is about finding a way and this step up to Challenger level will examine where I am in relation to that.”

Baker’s ATP ranking fell from 211 in January 2008 to 982 three months ago. After his Australian success he is closing in on the 350 mark, and heads to America hoping that by the end of the year he could have reclaimed almost all the ground lost.

“I’d say I am ready to take my game to the next level up but the difference now is that instead of playing guys ranked in the 300s, I will be facing players who could be as high as lower top 100. I am under no illusions as to how tough it will be. So the next five weeks are going to supply the acid test for me of whether I can get back to where I was.”

Baker, 23, is also determined to play for his country again. “There is no greater feeling than pulling on a shirt with Great Britain on the back of it in the Davis Cup. When I won in Buenos Aires against Argentina a couple of years back, it was my proudest moment.

“James Ward is ranked at 196 and Josh Goodall at 242 so these are two guys I am going to have to get above if Andy Murray doesn’t play. How I do in the US over the next month and then in Mexico in my final tournament of the year will be crucial to achieving that.”

As if he didn’t have incentive enough to succeed, Baker pointed out: “If I can take my ranking up to around 250 by then it would give me a shot at qualifying for the Australian Open. That would mean I had almost come full circle since I contracted ITP. There are no guarantees my body will continue to take the stresses of competitive tennis but I am feeling more and more con­fident I can do it.”