Shock retirement from Swedish tennis star facing lengthy ban for missing drug tests

Tennis News
Mikael Ymer in action

It has been a story that has been rumbling under the surface of the mainstream news in tennis throughout this summer and now it is set to explode in dramatic fashion.

Swedish player Mikael Ymer was banned from tennis for 18 months for an anti-doping violation in July after missing three drug tests.

He has offered a passionate defence of his position and insisted the third missed test was due to a miscommunication with his agent after he booked an alternative hotel

Ymer had accepted the first two whereabouts failures on April 22 and Aug. 10, 2021 but contested the third on Nov. 7, which was blamed on miscommunication with his agent at a tournament in Roanne, France in November 2021.

Reacting to the ruling on Twitter, Ymer wrote: “I learned that the Court of Arbitration for Sports has suspended me from professional tennis for 18 months, despite never having used nor been accused of using banned substances.

“Having already been cleared once, and wholeheartedly standing by the fact that I do not feel that the third offence was committed, I find their decision to try me again and subsequently find me guilty, unfair.

“On top of that, I find it difficult to comprehend that they found an 18-month suspension to be a just punishment.

“I understand that these rules have been put in place to protect the integrity of our sport, and that they are there for a reason. However, I do not believe I broke those rules, and my conscience is clear with God as my witness.”

This case has been rumbling on for some time and it took a dramatic twist on Friday when Ymer announced his shock retirement from tennis with a social media post.

At the age of 24, it is hard to believe this is the last we have heard of this story, as a player who beat world No 9 Taylor Fritz at Wimbledon last month ponders his next month.

His evident disillusionment with the tennis authorities will have inspired this decision, but the player who broke into the top 50 if the ATTP rankings earlier this year is clearly unhappy with what he perceives to be an injustice.

READ MORE: Swedish star slams tennis body over ‘unfair’ treatment following lengthy ban

Mikael Ymer

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