Career
Puerta made his debut on the ATP Tour in 1996. He won his first ATP title in 1998 in Palermo, Italy. In 2000, Puerta achieved his highest year end ranking of World No. 21, making it to five finals, and winning one of them (Bogotá). That same year, however, he underwent wrist surgery, which kept him off the circuit for several months.
Besides not recovering his previous playing level, he was suspending 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(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.
Puerta is left-handed and uses a single-handed backhand. He is a clay court specialist with a game that revolves around groundstrokes with heavy topspin. On fast surfaces his game is compromised by his comparatively weak serve and slow court speed. His three ATP titles so far were all won on clay.
Read more about this topic: Mariano Puerta
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