Topic: Mariano Puerta

Mariano Puerta (born September 19, 1978 in San Francisco, Córdoba) is an Argentine professional male tennis player.

Puerta made his debut on the ATP Tour in 1996. He won his first ATP title in 1998 in Palermo, Italy. In 2000 he reached what most consider the peak of his career, 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, in 2004 he was sanctioned for 9 months 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 440. He was reduced to playing Challenger-level tournaments for a while until he had earned enough points to return to the ATP Tour.