ATP star comes out of retirement after admitting it was ‘boring’
Former top 50 ATP player Mikael Ymer has made a U-turn on his decision to retire, with the Swede seeing out the rest of his anti-doping suspension until 2025.
Ymer competed in his last competitive match at Wimbledon, reaching the third round for the first time after achieving his first top 10 victory over Taylor Fritz.
Miraculous Mikael ????
Mikael Ymer comes back from two sets down to upset the No.9 seed Taylor Fritz 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to make the third round at Wimbledon for the very first time ????#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/ZWPgV6huIk
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 6, 2023
However, just over a week later he was handed an 18-month suspension due to missing three out-of-competition doping tests in a 12 month period back in 2021.
These initial charges came in January 2022, but Ymer was cleared by an independent tribunal in June. However, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) appealed this decision, upholding the original two year ban and imposing an 18-month suspension from July 2023.
The then 24-year-old released a lengthy social media statement upon receiving this suspension, revealing that he accepted the first two missed tests, but contested the validity of the third.
“Yesterday, 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,” Ymer said on social media.
“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.”
In January 2022, the ITF charged me with a potential anti-doping rule violation for having 3 missed out of competition test attempts in a 12-month period. I fought that charge at a hearing, and was cleared by an independent tribunal of 3 arbitrators in June of 2022. The ITF…
— Mikael Ymer (@MikaelYmer) July 18, 2023
Ymer received support from the likes of Casper Ruud, fellow ATP pro brother Elias Ymer, Corentin Moutet and Alize Cornet, but subsequently confirmed that he would be retiring as a professional tennis player.
“I’ve decided to retire from professional tennis. Thank you all for the amazing memories!” Mikael Ymer said on social media. “What a ride it’s been! I wish all my old colleagues well going forward in competition. God is Great always.”
However, it appears that Ymer has had a change of heart and yesterday confirmed that he would be coming back to the ATP Tour following the conclusion of his suspension, “Retirement was boring see u in 8 months.”
Retirement was boring see u in 8 months ????????????????????
— Mikael Ymer (@MikaelYmer) April 15, 2024
Ymer’s suspension will be come to an end in January 2025, with the 25-year-old then able to return to action.
Inside the baseline…
This is a sensible decision from Mikael Ymer, who is too talented to just let his career go at only 25-years-old. At the time it did seem like a heat of the moment decision, and this U-turn kind of supports this. Hopefully when Ymer returns, he will be more careful about filing his whereabouts, as this was the cause of that third missed doping test.
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