Mariano Puerta

37
Mariano Puerta bigraphy, stories - Argentine tennis player

Mariano Puerta : biography

September 19, 1978 –

Mariano Rubén Puerta (born September 19, 1978 in San Francisco, Córdoba) is a former Argentine professional male tennis player. His best performance in a Grand Slam was reaching the final of the French Open in 2005, where he lost to Rafael Nadal in four sets. He won 3 singles titles and reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 9.

Grand Slam finals

Singles

Runner-up (1)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
2005 French Open ESP}} Rafael Nadal 6–7, 6–3, 6–1, 7–5

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 once again banned, 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. The suspension was for 8 years, the longest in tennis history at that time. As a result, Puerta was forced to forfeit all 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 runner-up finish 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". 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 2 years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, making him eligible to restart his career on June 5, 2007.

Singles performance timeline

Tournament 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Career W-L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open A A A A A 2R 1R A A 1R A A A A A A 1–3
French Open A A A A LQ 2R 3R 2R 2R 2R A F A A A A 12–6
Wimbledon A A A A 1R A A 1R A 1R A 1R A A A A 0–3
U.S. Open A A A A 1R 2R 1R A A 1R A 2R A A A A 1–4
Win-Loss 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 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 A A A A A A A A A A A RR A A A 0–0
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics Not Held A Not Held A Not Held A Not Held A NH 0–0
ATP World Tour 1000
Indian Wells Masters A A A A A 1R A A A A A A A A A A 6–6
Miami Masters A A A A A 1R A 1R A A A A A A A A 0–2
Monte Carlo Masters A A A A A A 2R 1R A A A 3R A A A A 3–3
Rome Masters A A A A A 1R QF 1R A A A A A A A A 3–3
Madrid Masters A A A A A A A A A A A 3R A A A A 0-0
Canada Masters A A A A A A 1R A A A A QF A A A A 0-1
Cincinnati Masters A A A A 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 A A A A 1R A A A A 2R A A A A 0–1
Hamburg Masters A A A A A 3R 3R 1R A A A 2R A A A NM1 4–4
Career Statistics
ATP Finals Reached 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 19
ATP Tournaments Won 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 19
Year End Ranking 786 764 424 141 39 101 21 254 116 118 133 56 N/A 261 195 311 N/A