Mariano Puerta

Mariano Rubén Puerta (Spanish pronunciation: [maˈɾjano ruˈβem ˈpweɾta];[lower-alpha 1] born 19 September 1978) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP world No. 9 singles ranking in August 2005. His career highlight of reaching the final of the French Open in 2005 was marred by testing positive for the banned substance etilefrine in a drugs test directly after the French Open final, for which he received an eight-year doping ban.[1]

Mariano Rubén Puerta
Country (sports) Argentina
ResidenceBuenos Aires, Argentina
Born (1978-09-19) 19 September 1978
San Francisco, Córdoba, Argentina
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro1998
Retired2009
PlaysLeft-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize moneyUS$1,695,028
Singles
Career record128–118 (52.0%)
Career titles3
Highest rankingNo. 9 (15 August 2005)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open2R (1999)
French OpenF (2005)
Wimbledon1R (1998, 2001, 2003, 2005)
US Open2R (1999, 2005)
Other tournaments
Tour FinalsRR (2005)
Doubles
Career record42–54 (43.8%)
Career titles3
Highest rankingNo. 68 (2 August 1999)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open1R (1999, 2000, 2003)
French Open2R (1999)
Wimbledon1R (2005)
US Open1R (1998, 2003, 2005)

Tennis career

Puerta made his debut on the ATP Tour in 1997, and turned professional in 1998. He won his first ATP title in 1998 in Palermo, 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 a doping offense (see section on doping 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, the French Open, where he eventually succumbed to Rafael 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 on appeal.

On June 6, 2007 Puerta returned to the professional circuit with a 6–4, 6–3 victory over Australian Joseph 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 Spaniard Marc López. Since returning to the tour, Puerta has only played on the ATP Challenger Tour, including winning the Bogota challenger in 2008 and reaching the final of the San Luis Potosi Challenger in 2008 without dropping a set, where he was forced to default the final, and the Cordenons challenger in 2007.

Playing style

Puerta is left-handed and uses a single-handed backhand. He is an excellent clay-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.

Doping controversies

In 2003, Puerta received a two-year doping suspension after testing positive for clenbuterol at Viña del Mar. In his defence, he argued that the substance had been administered to him by his doctor to combat asthma 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 the cardiac stimulant etilefrine following his 2005 French Open final loss to Rafael 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.

The International 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 the Court of Arbitration for Sport, making him eligible to restart his career on June 5, 2007.

Grand Slams finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)
Outcome Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Runner-up2005French OpenClay Rafael Nadal7–6(8–6), 3–6, 1–6, 5–7

Career finals

Singles: 10 (3 wins, 7 losses)
Legend (Singles)
Grand Slam (0–1)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (0–0)
ATP International Series Gold (0–1)
ATP International Series (3–5)
Titles by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (3–7)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W/L Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 1. Aug 1998 San Marino Open, San Marino Clay Dominik Hrbatý 2–6, 5–7
Win 1. Oct 1998 Campionati Int. di Sicilia, Italy Clay Franco Squillari 6–3, 6–2
Loss 2. Feb 2000 Mexican Open, Mexico Clay Juan Ignacio Chela 4–6, 6–7(4–7)
Loss 3. Feb 2000 Chile Open, Chile Clay Gustavo Kuerten 6–7(3–7), 3–6
Win 2. Mar 2000 Bancolombia Open, Colombia Clay Younes El Aynaoui 6–4, 7–6(7–5)
Loss 4. Jul 2000 Swiss Open, Switzerland Clay Àlex Corretja 1–6, 3–6
Loss 5. Jul 2000 Croatia Open, Croatia Clay Marcelo Ríos 6–7(1–7), 6–4, 3–6
Loss 6. Feb 2005 ATP Buenos Aires, Argentina Clay Gastón Gaudio 4–6, 4–6
Win 3. Apr 2005 Grand Prix Hassan II, Morocco Clay Juan Mónaco 6–4, 6–1
Loss 7. Jun 2005 French Open, France Clay Rafael Nadal 7–6(8–6), 3–6, 1–6, 5–7

Doubles: 3 (3 wins)
Result W/L Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1. Aug 1998 Bancolombia Open, Colombia Clay Diego del Río Gábor Köves
Eric Taino		 6–7, 6–3, 6–2
Win 2. May 1999 Bavarian Championships Germany Clay Daniel Orsanic Massimo Bertolini
Cristian Brandi		 7–6, 3–6, 7–6
Win 3. Aug 1999 Croatia Open, Croatia Clay Javier Sánchez Massimo Bertolini
Cristian Brandi		 3–6, 6–2, 6–3

Performance timeline

Singles
Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# A P Z# PO G F-S SF-B NMS NH
(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)
Professional career
Tournament1994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009W–L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open A 2R 1R A A 1R A A A A A A 1–3
French Open Q? 2R 3R 2R 2R 2R A F A A A A 12–6
Wimbledon 1R A A 1R A 1R A 1R A A A A 0–3
U.S. Open 1R 2R 1R A A 1R A 2R A A A A 1–4
Win-Loss 0–2 3–3 2–3 1–2 1–1 1–4 0–0 6–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 14–16
Year-End Championship
ATP World Tour Finals RR 0–0
National representation
Summer Olympics Not Held A Not Held A Not Held A Not Held A NH 0–0
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters A 1R A A A A A A A A A A 6–6
Miami Masters A 1R A 1R A A A A A A A A 0–2
Monte Carlo Masters A A 2R 1R A A A 3R A A A A 3–3
Madrid Masters A A A 3R A A A A 0–0
Rome Masters A 1R QF 1R A A A A A A A A 3–3
Hamburg Masters A 3R 3R 1R A A A 2R A A A NMS 4–4
Canada Masters A A 1R A A A A QF A A A A 0–1
Cincinnati Masters A A 2R A A A A 1R A A A A 1–1
Shanghai Masters Not Held NMS Not Held NMS A 0–0
Paris Masters A A 1R A A A A 2R A A A A 0–1
Career Statistics
Finals 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 10
Titles 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3
Year-End Ranking 786 764 424 141 39 101 21 254 116 118 133 56[4] – 261 195 311

Walkovers are neither official wins nor official losses.

See also

Notes
  1. In isolation, Rubén is pronounced [ruˈβen].

References
  1. "Puerta gets eight-year doping ban". The Telegraph. 21 December 2005. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  2. "Puerta: Espero terminar el año entre los 100 mejores", Clarín.com, 7 June 2007.
  3. The Associated Press (22 December 2005). "Puerta Is Facing the Longest Ban in Tennis History". NYTimes.com - Sports. The New York Times (nytimes.com). Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  4. "Year End Singles Rankings for 2005", atpworldtour.com, 26 December 2005.
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