The Argentine extenista Mariano Puerta, number 9 in the world in 2005, he admitted on Monday to have lied in his statement defense after having tested positive for an anti-doping test during the Roland Garros 2005 tournament, in which he lost the final to Rafael Nadal, the first of the twelve that the Spanish star won.
“The explanation we used as a strategy was a lie, but I didn't get sports advantage. I don't want to be seen as a cheater anymore, “he said Puerta, 41, to the newspaper La Nación.
Puerta had said that she mistakenly consumed water that she had a medication from her partner. At Roland Garros 2005, Puerta lost the final to Nadal 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-1 and 7-5. However, this Monday he admitted having taken, unknowingly, pills that had ethylephrine.
“We couldn't do anything because the pills had been bought, I don't know how to say it, not legally. There was no invoice. My lawyers thought that it was not convenient from a strategic point of view to go with what happened, that I wasn't going to like it, “he explained.
The Argentine had previously tested positive for another doping test in 2003 for consuming an asthma medication that had clenbuterol, a banned substance. On that occasion, he was suspended for nine months.
“When you have a warning for doping, in recidivism they give you from eight to 99 years old. My career was at stake. I don't blame myself for that,” he added.
Puerta was sanctioned with an eight-year suspension, then reduced to two. “I feel like my tennis career ended the day I opened the envelope (with the result of the test). It ended there. It knocked me out. Something inside me left, I was absent, I never entered the court again as I normally did Until I retired (in 2009), I re-entered the court empty, “he added.
“I would tell tennis players today not to do anything that would put them in a situation like mine. The price you can pay for being wrong is very high. It doesn't make sense. I was irresponsible,” he concluded.
The same newspaper interviewed the man who, according to Puerta, was the link to get those pills. “That a friend of mine made pills in a laboratory? No, no, no. I have nothing to do with it. No, no, no. I have nothing to do with it. I didn't give him anything. It's a lie,” said the physical trainer Darío Lecman.