World #51 Mikael Ymer has been banned from playing for 18 months after being found guilty of failing to verify his whereabouts for three out of competition drugs tests in a 12-month period.
The Swede was originally charged in January 2022 with the offense, but was cleared by an independent tribunal in June 2022. However, the International Tennis Federation appealed that decision and were seeking a two-year ban for Ymer. The panel then partially upheld the appeal, handing the former ATP finalist an 18-month suspension.
Ymer accepted the first two whereabouts failures in April and August 2021, but contested the third in November 2021. He blamed this on miscommunication with his agent, saying the player was accommodated in a different hotel than the one he had requested when making his reservation, but Ymer’s agent (who updated his whereabouts on his behalf) did not receive news of that change and therefore did not make the necessary update on that occasion. But the Court of Arbitration for Sport panel concluded that the Swede had failed in ensuring his compliance with the anti-doping regulations and handed out his ban.
Ymer released the following statement on Twitter: “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 do not believe I broke those rules and my conscience is clear with God as my witness.”
Ymer had been due to play Juan Pablo Varillas at the Gstaad Open but he was replaced by Otto Virtanen after news of his suspension broke.
Main Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
