Mariano Rubén Puerta

Country (sports)	Argentina
Residence	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Born	(1978-09-19) 19 September 1978 (age 45) San Francisco, Córdoba, Argentina
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro	1998
Retired	2009
Plays	Left-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$1,781,372
Singles
Career record	128–118 (52.0%)
Career titles	3
Highest ranking	No. 9 (15 August 2005)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	2R (1999)
French Open	F (2005)
Wimbledon	1R (1998, 2001, 2003, 2005)
US Open	2R (1999, 2005)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	RR (2005)
Doubles
Career record	42–54 (43.8%)
Career titles	3
Highest ranking	No. 68 (2 August 1999)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	1R (1999, 2000, 2003)
French Open	2R (1999)
Wimbledon	1R (2005)
US Open	1R (1998, 2003, 2005)
Last updated on: 18 June 2021.

Mariano Rubén Puerta (Spanish pronunciation: [maˈɾjano ruˈβem ˈpweɾta];^[a] 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]

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 Bogotá Challenger in 2008 and reaching the final of the San Luis Potosí 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
Loss	2005	French Open	Clay	Rafael Nadal	7–6(8–6), 3–6, 1–6, 5–7

ATP Career Finals

Singles: 10 (3 titles, 7 runner-ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Aug 1998	San Marino Open, San Marino	World Series	Clay	Dominik Hrbatý	2–6, 5–7
Win	1–1	Oct 1998	Palermo, Italy	World Series	Clay	Franco Squillari	6–3, 6–2
Loss	1–2	Feb 2000	Mexican Open, Mexico	International Series Gold	Clay	Juan Ignacio Chela	4–6, 6–7(4–7)
Loss	1–3	Mar 2000	Chile Open, Chile	World Series	Clay	Gustavo Kuerten	6–7(3–7), 3–6
Win	2–3	Mar 2000	Bancolombia Open, Colombia	World Series	Clay	Younes El Aynaoui	6–4, 7–6(7–5)
Loss	2–4	Jul 2000	Swiss Open, Switzerland	World Series	Clay	Àlex Corretja	1–6, 3–6
Loss	2–5	Jul 2000	Croatia Open, Croatia	World Series	Clay	Marcelo Ríos	6–7(1–7), 6–4, 3–6
Loss	2–6	Feb 2005	Buenos Aires, Argentina	International Series	Clay	Gastón Gaudio	4–6, 4–6
Win	3–6	Apr 2005	Casablanca, Morocco	International Series	Clay	Juan Mónaco	6–4, 6–1
Loss	3–7	Jun 2005	French Open, France	Grand Slam	Clay	Rafael Nadal	7–6(8–6), 3–6, 1–6, 5–7

Doubles: 3 (3 titles)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Aug 1998	Bancolombia Open, Colombia	World Series	Clay	Diego del Río	Gábor Köves Eric Taino	6–7, 6–3, 6–2
Win	2–0	May 1999	Bavarian Championships, Germany	World Series	Clay	Daniel Orsanic	Massimo Bertolini Cristian Brandi	7–6(7–3), 3–6, 7–6(7–3)
Win	3–0	Aug 1999	Croatia Open, Croatia	World Series	Clay	Javier Sánchez	Massimo Bertolini Cristian Brandi	3–6, 6–2, 6–3

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 19 (11–8)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Jul 1997	Quito, Ecuador	Challenger	Clay	Ramón Delgado	6–1, 7–5
Win	2–0	Apr 1998	Nice, France	Challenger	Clay	Arnaud Di Pasquale	6–7, 6–4, 6–4
Loss	2–1	Apr 1998	Espinho, Portugal	Challenger	Clay	Guillermo Cañas	1–6, 6–2, 2–6
Loss	2–2	Jun 1998	Zagreb, Croatia	Challenger	Clay	Jiří Novák	5–7, 1–6
Loss	2–3	Jun 2002	Sassuolo, Italy	Challenger	Clay	David Ferrer	4–6, 1–6
Win	3–3	Jul 2002	Mantova, Italy	Challenger	Clay	Potito Starace	6–3, 1–0 ret.
Win	4–3	Sep 2002	Brindisi, Italy	Challenger	Clay	Leonardo Azzaro	6–3, 7–6(7–2)
Win	5–3	May 2003	Aix En Provence, France	Challenger	Clay	Rafael Nadal	3–6, 7–6(8–6), 6–4
Loss	5–4	Jul 2003	Prostějov, Czech Republic	Challenger	Clay	Radek Štěpánek	5–7, 3–6
Win	6–4	Aug 2004	Samarkand, Uzbekistan	Challenger	Clay	Pavel Šnobel	6–1, 6–2
Win	7–4	Sep 2004	Tehran, Iran	Challenger	Clay	Melle van Gemerden	6–3, 6–4
Win	8–4	Oct 2004	Chile F2, Santiago	Futures	Clay	Diego Moyano	6–1, 6–1
Win	9–4	Nov 2004	Santa Cruz, Bolivia	Challenger	Clay	Franco Ferreiro	6–7(5–7), 6–4, 6–3
Loss	9–5	Nov 2004	Bogotá, Colombia	Challenger	Clay	Ramón Delgado	4–6, 5–7
Win	10–5	Dec 2004	Guadalajara, Mexico	Challenger	Clay	Nicolás Lapentti	6–0, 6–2
Loss	10–6	Jan 2005	La Serena, Chile	Challenger	Clay	Edgardo Massa	4–6, 6–7(3–7)
Loss	10–7	Aug 2007	Cordenons, Italy	Challenger	Clay	Máximo González	6–2, 5–7, 5–7
Loss	10–8	Mar 2008	San Luis Potosí, Mexico	Challenger	Clay	Brian Dabul	walkover
Win	11–8	Jul 2008	Bogotá, Colombia	Challenger	Clay	Ricardo Hocevar	7–6(7–2), 7–5

Doubles: 10 (5–5)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	May 1997	Curitiba, Brazil	Challenger	Clay	Eduardo Medica	Glenn Weiner Herbert Wiltschnig	3–6, 4–6
Win	1–1	Jul 1997	Cali, Colombia	Challenger	Clay	Eduardo Medica	Bernardo Martínez Marco Osorio	7–6, 7–5
Win	2–1	Aug 1997	Geneva, Switzerland	Challenger	Clay	Diego del Río	Guillaume Marx Olivier Morel	6–3, 6–4
Loss	2–2	Oct 1997	Santiago, Chile	Challenger	Clay	Diego del Río	Lucas Arnold Ker Jaime Oncins	2–6, 2–6
Loss	2–3	Oct 1997	Guayaquil, Ecuador	Challenger	Clay	Diego del Río	Gábor Köves Tomas Nydahl	6–2, 3–6, 6–7
Loss	2–4	Dec 1997	Santiago II, Chile	Challenger	Clay	Diego del Río	Sebastián Prieto Mariano Hood	5–7, 1–6
Loss	2–5	Apr 1998	Nice, France	Challenger	Clay	André Sá	Devin Bowen Mariano Hood	5–7, 6–3, 4–6
Win	3–5	Jun 1998	Zagreb, Croatia	Challenger	Clay	Julian Alonso	Eduardo Nicolás Espin Germán Puentes Alcañiz	6–1, 6–4
Win	4–5	Sep 2000	Biella, Italy	Challenger	Clay	Martín García	Simon Aspelin Fredrik Bergh	6–2, 4–6, 6–4
Win	5–5	Jun 2008	Sofia, Bulgaria	Challenger	Clay	Franco Ferreiro	Lazar Magdinchev Predrag Rusevski	6–3, 1–6, [10–3]

Junior Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1995	French Open	Clay	Mariano Zabaleta	2–6, 3–6

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1995	Wimbledon	Grass	Alejandro Hernández	Martin Lee James Trotman	6–7, 4–6

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

Walkovers are neither official wins nor official losses.