Mariano Rubén Puerta (Spanish pronunciation:[maˈɾjanoruˈβemˈpweɾta];[a] born 19 September 1978) is anArgentinetennis coach and former professional player. He reached a career-highATP world No. 9singlesranking in August 2005. His career highlight is reaching the final of theFrench Open in2005.
Shortly afterwards he tested positive for the banned substanceetilefrine in a drugs test, for which he received an eight-year doping ban, subsequently reduced to two years on appeal.[1]
Puerta made his debut on theATP Tour in 1997, and turned professional in 1998. He won his first ATP title in 1998 inPalermo, Italy. In 2000, Puerta achieved his highest year-end ranking of World No. 21, reaching five finals, and winning one of them (Bogotá). That same year, however, he underwent wrist surgery, which kept him off the tour for several months.
Besides from not recovering his previous playing level, he was suspended from tennis for 9 months from October 2003 onwards for adoping offense (see section ondoping controversies). Owing to the suspension he missed most of the 2004 season, and by August 2004 his world ranking had dropped to No. 440. He was reduced to playing Challenger-level tournaments for a while until he had earned enough points to return to the ATP Tour.
In 2005, Puerta made an eye-opening comeback on the Tour by winning the title in Casablanca and then making it to the final of the world's most prestigious clay court tournament, theFrench Open, where he eventually succumbed toRafael Nadal in a close match (7–6(8–6), 3–6, 1–6, 5–7). By August 2005 he had climbed to a career-best World No. 9 in the ATP singles rankings, an advancement of 431 places in one year.
In December 2005, he was, again, suspended for a doping offense, this time for 8 years, effectively ending his professional career. This suspension was later reduced to two years on appeal.
On June 6, 2007, Puerta returned to the professional circuit with a 6–4, 6–3 victory over AustralianJoseph Sirianni at the Sassuolo Challenger, a tournament to which he was invited as a wild card since he had no ranking.[2] In the second round, Puerta lost 6–3, 6–0 to SpaniardMarc López. Since returning to the tour, Puerta has only played on the ATP Challenger Tour, including winning the Bogotá Challenger in 2008 and reaching the final of theSan Luis Potosí Challenger in 2008 without dropping a set, where he was forced to default the final, and theCordenons challenger in 2007.
Puerta is left-handed and uses asingle-handed backhand. He is an excellentclay-court specialist with a game that revolves around very accurate and powerful groundstrokes off both wings with heavy topspin. His main weaknesses are his mental strength, slow court speed and comparatively weak serve, the latter two which significantly prevents his success on fast surfaces. He is also very capable at the net, having good volleys and quick reflexes despite his slow court speed.
In 2003, Puerta received a two-year doping suspension after testing positive forclenbuterol atViña del Mar. In his defence, he argued that the substance had been administered to him by his doctor to combatasthma and that it had no performance-enhancing effect. The sanction was subsequently reduced to nine months suspension, effective from October 2003, and a$5600 fine.
In December 2005, Puerta was banned again, this time after it was revealed that he had tested positive for the use of thecardiac stimulantetilefrine following his 2005 French Open final loss toRafael Nadal. News of this positive drug test had been circulating since October 2005. The suspension was for eight years, the longest in tennis history at that time. As a result, Puerta was forced to forfeit all of his rankings points and prize money from the 2005 French Open onwards, and had all his 2005 results from after the French Open annulled. Puerta's finish as a finalist at the 2005 French Open was allowed to remain on the record books.
TheInternational Tennis Federation tribunal noted, however, that "The amount of etilefrine detected in the positive drugs test was too small to have any effect on his performance".[3] Puerta appealed against the ban, claiming on his web site that he only ingested trace amounts of it accidentally left over by his wife in a glass. On July 12, 2006, his suspension was reduced to two years by theCourt of Arbitration for Sport, making him eligible to restart his career on June 5, 2007.
Argentina
Rafael Nadal
Dominik Hrbatý
Gustavo Kuerten
Younes El Aynaoui
Marcelo Ríos
Gábor Köves
Eric Taino
Massimo Bertolini
Ramón Delgado
Arnaud Di Pasquale
Jiří Novák
Melle van Gemerden
Nicolás Lapentti
Glenn Weiner
Herbert Wiltschnig
Bernardo Martínez
Tomas Nydahl
Lazar Magdinchev
Martin Lee