The Cordoba Mariano Puerta He was one of the members of the Legion, a group of Argentine tennis players born between 1975 and 1982 who, since 2000, stood out on the circuit. Roland Garros 2005 finalist, was the protagonist, in addition, of a fact that It stained the sport of Argentina: he tested positive in the anti-doping control of that match against Rafael Nadal in Paris. After serving the sanction (he received a sentence of eight years reduced to two), he returned to play in 2007 and retired in 2009. From that moment, he isolated himself, moved away from tennis, had severe financial problems and emigrated to the United States. to work. Last year, in an interview with LA NACION, he revealed that the theory he used in his plea to reduce his sentence was “lie”. Beyond a short stint as Brian Dabul’s coach, he did not rejoin the tour in that role. But now it will: will join the team of Chilean Cristian Garín, current 17th in the world ranking.
The link does not go unnoticed in South American tennis, especially because of Puerta’s background: He was part of the Top Ten (9th in August 2005), but he was also the first repeat offender in the history of tennis, since in addition to the one in 2005 in the definition of the French Open, he gave doping in 2003 and was suspended for nine months for consuming an asthma drug that contained clenbuterol, a substance prohibited because it is considered “anabolic”.
After working for almost a year with Franco Davin As a coach, Garín and the former driver of Juan Martín del Potro broke their bond last September and the Chilean continued training until the end of this season with his friend Jorge Aguilar, vice captain of the Davis Cup team (Nicolás Massú is the captain). But Garín decided to add another person to his team. In the next few days, in Miami, the preseason will begin with a view to 2022 and Puerta will be one of its coaches (Aguilar will also remain in the group, in addition to the physical trainer Duglas Cordero).
Puerta’s life after his retirement was a torment, according to he himself confessed to LA NACION. One month after retiring filed for his own bankruptcy in a court of the City of Buenos Aires (in addition to the sports sanction, he was ordered to return the prizes of that semester of 2005, about US $ 887,000) and, except for an exhibition with his generation companions in Cariló during the summer of 2014, he was hardly seen again in the world of rackets. Based in the United States since 2014, he said that “financially” he was able to stand up, dividing his days between teaching tennis and activities in the construction sector.
“What did Puerta do after retiring? As he told LA NACION, last August: “I was doing nothing. It was years that I used them to disconnect. I traveled a lot, I was a boyfriend for several years. And one of those years I was working with Brian Dabul, ten months, it went well for us; When we started, he was ranked 130 or 140 and after those months he reached the 82nd ranking. He ended up with pain in the back of his neck, got married and decided not to play anymore. That’s when I started to see what to do, I didn’t do much, until I received the call from Dallas to work ”.
He added: “When I received the job proposal from the United States, it was an instant ‘yes’ for me. Because I thought it could be a good thing. I stopped competing and for four years I did nothing, you don’t live off the air. Then, of course, the moment began to come when I had to see how to generate, what to do. I was a boy who had always played just tennis, I didn’t know how to do anything else ”.
Last August, a decade and a half before the Roland Garros final, Puerta confessed to THE NATION that the explanation he gave in court to try to reduce the penalty (which occurred) was false. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) considered this procedure “regrettable” and the International Tennis Federation reacted with displeasure to that lie.
At 43 years old and after a handful of seasons working with tennis in the United States and away from the lights, Puerta will return to the tour, with the desire to energize himself and transmit his experiences to Garín, a player who has five ATP titles (Houston and Munich 2019, Córdoba and Rio de Janeiro 2020, and Santiago 2021) and that he intends to recover the good feelings. His last days on the tour were unstable, he suffered some injuries that disturbed him and he tries to renew himself.
Puerta will be the 12th coach in Garín’s professional career. During the first four months of the year, the Chilean will have to defend 1,170 points: 500 from the Rio 2020 title, 500 from Córdoba 2020 and Santiago 2021, and 125 from the Houston 2019 crown, quite a challenge.
