Baker ready for his date with destiny

Sports Writer

Tuesday 26 June 2012

JAMIE BAKER will play the match of his life on a packed Court No.1 this evening.

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Stewart Fisher

But in his head he will convince himself that he is knocking up at one of his home courts at Renfrew or Roehampton. Although the 25-year-old Scot has graced the famous SW19 showcourt once before – he lost 6-4, 6-4 to Marin Cilic in a dead Davis Cup rubber in September 2007 – he knows he can never match his opponent Andy Roddick for experience on any of the grand arenas of tennis. So the quicker he can ignore the opulent surroundings and play his normal game, the better.

Baker warmed up for his date with destiny with a practice session against his childhood pal Andy Murray at Aorangi Park yesterday but this evening the two Scots will top the billing at the All England Club. "I thought he [Murray] was pretty relaxed, it's as relaxed as I have seen him in the last few weeks," Baker said. "But you can always tell when something big is about to happen. It was the same for both of us."Unlike Murray, who can be sure of partisan support these days, Baker acknowledges that Roddick is one of the favourites of the SW19 crowd. "It would be nice to get into the match early on and give the crowd something to get behind," the Glaswegian added. "But it's interesting because the crowd are fair here, and they do love players who have done well, they always give support to them. So I don't think he'll struggle for support. The public probably don't know anything about me, but I feel as if I have a good chance if I get my teeth into the match and the only way to do that is to block all the other stuff out."After years of injury and illness -– he didn't even qualify for a wild card last year – Baker is shaping up pretty well these days. He may never have won a main-draw match at a grand slam but he has worked his way up to his highest ranking of No.186. He fully expects the sternest examination from Roddick, who might have slipped to a world ranking of No.25, but refuted reports of his demise by taking a grass-court title at Eastbourne at the weekend. But then Baker has already had to pass a test at world-class level just to convince Murray and Ivan Lendl, with whom he has spent much time in the last six months, that he is a worthy training partner. "He [Murray] obviously thinks I am good enough to practise with because he's not going to put up with anything less than that," Baker said. "He's not going to jeopardise his own practice. So that feedback in itself is actually bigger than anything else for me."In addition to a training block at Miami in December, one of the main benefits of the arrangement has been an increased focus on diet and nutrition. "I have become much leaner and that is another influence of being around Andy," said Baker. "He is slightly obsessed with what he eats." Baker doesn't buy into the theory that Murray is out of form and has seen no evidence he is hampered by a back problem. "He is a different animal when it comes to the longer matches at major events."Roddick certainly isn't about to let his thoughts drift too far ahead. Not least because Baker is coming off a victory over his countryman Donald Young. "You know, he's played it before," Roddick said. "He's been in that draw plenty of times. He had a pretty good win last week over one of our guys. Right now my goal is make it past the first round. We'll renegotiate round by round."The Scottish duo is actually a trio – Elena Baltacha's recent neck injury is not sufficient to prevent her taking on Italy's Karin Knapp second up on Court 18 – with the only Brit making it through to the second round yesterday born and raised in Guernsey. Heather Watson was an emphatic 6-1, 6-2 winner against Iveta Benesova, of the Czech Republic, although Sydney-born Johanna Konta still has chances of joining her, a seesawing encounter against highly rated American Christina McHale being halted at 7-7 in the deciding set due to bad light. There was no such respite for Naomi Broady, of Stockport, who went down 6-4, 7-6 (4) to Lourdes Dominguez-Lino, or reigning US Open junior champion Oliver Golding, who spoke of the "devastation" he felt after losing 1-6, 7-6, 7-6, 7-5 to Russia's Igor Andreev. Doubles pair Jamie Murray and Eric Butorac took the first two sets against Andre Begemann and Igor Zelenay on tie-breaks and were locked at 2-2 in the third when the gloom descended.

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Baker ready for his date with destiny

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