Britain's Jamie Baker retires from tennis aged 26

British number seven Jamie Baker has announced his retirement from tennis.

The 26-year-old Scot has slipped from a career-high ranking of 186th last year to 333rd this year and lost in Wimbledon qualifying last week.

Baker's career has been dogged by injury and illness, including contracting an auto-immune disease in 2008 that left him in intensive care.

"I have been strict with myself that I want to stop when I have a decision to make rather than tail away," he said.

"I have never found it hard to get up in the mornings and put in an honest day's training but over the last six to 12 months I have found that a struggle."

Baker's decision comes a day after fellow British Davis Cup player Josh Goodall said he is considering retirement aged 27.

In an interview with BBC Scotland's Sport Nation programme, Baker added: "I would not change any of it. The education and the journey that this tennis life has given me has been incredible.

"One of the reasons I've come to this decision is that I feel that I have acquired so many different skills and assets to myself as a character that I can use in other areas now."

Baker revealed earlier this year he battled with depression after suffering a life-threatening blood disorder that saw him spend three days in intensive care.

He told Sport Nation: "I was told at one point for about a 24-hour period literally not to hold my breath for too long, let alone move because if a bleed started in my head, there's nothing they could do.

"From that setback I actually came back about four years later and reached my highest ranking again.

"It's hard to measure how much that process took out of me. It was incredible what I went through and the hardest time was actually afterwards and you just never know what sort of a toll that takes."