This isn’t quite the same story as Jeremy Lin who hit a bright patch of success when he became the point guard for the hapless New York Knicks, full of talent, and short on quality result.  The Harvard grad who grew up in the shadows of Stanford enthralled media and fans across the US as he lead the Knicks on a 7-game winning streak while players like Carmelo Anthony sat by healing.  The Lin phenomenon would pass as he got injured and Anthony reasserted his status as the team superstar where every point had to have him involved.

No, Brian Baker was one of those top juniors who we might be uttering in the same breath as Andy Roddick or Mardy Fish had he not gotten injured and faced numerous surgeries to recover.  He might have ridden the initial crest of players including Rafa, Andy Murray, and Novak Djokovic.  Still, Baker never lost the hope that he could somehow compete with the best.

And so, on the eve of the French Open, Baker went through qualifying at Nice, and in the process, upset Gael Monfils, Stakhovsky, Kukushkin, and then Davydenko in three sets.  He’s only one step from winning an ATP tour title though the last step is a doozy as he has to face defending champ, Nicolas Almagro, in the finals.  But if he wins, he’ll head into the French Open (where officials quickly recognized a good thing) as a wildcard and hope to work his magic there.

Fatigue may be an issue as he had to qualify at Nice and many of his matches have gone 3 sets.  The good news is there are rest days at Slams, so he might get a chance to recover.  The closest person who has a similar story is Robin Haase, but he’s still younger than Baker and has done all right.

One wonders how long Baker can play at this level and whether it’s the start of something serious or just a bright flash in the pan.  Tennis needs a little pizzazz, especially American tennis, so this may be the start of something, shall we say, insane.