By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, July 18, 2023
Banned 18 months for missing three out of competition doping tests, Mikael Ymer slams the ruling, saying: "I do not believe I broke those rules, and my conscience is clear."
Mikael Ymer slams the ITF as unfair after he was hit with a 18-month ban on an anti-doping rules violation.
The 24-year-old Swede was hit with an 18-month doping ban for missing three out-of-competition drug tests during a 12-month period. Ymer's 18-month ban began yesterday, July 17th.
More: Djokovic Fined for Racquet Smash in Wimbledon Final
In a post to Twitter, Ymer called the ban "unfair," disputed the third offense and asserted "I do not believe I broke those rules, and my conscience is clear with God as my witness."
Mikael Ymer, whose brother, Elias Ymer, also plays on the pro circuit, has not failed a drug test and was not accused of using any Performance Enhancing Drug.
The ITF and Ymer both agree he missed doping tests in April and August of 2021. Ymer disputed the circumstances surrounding the third missed doping test on November 7, 2021.
In the November, 2021 missed test, the CAS said Ymer was assigned in a different hotel than the one he had requested when making his reservation, "but the Player’s agent, who updated the Player’s whereabouts on his behalf) did not receive news of that change and therefore did not make the necessary update on that occasion."
Initially charged with violation in January of 2022, Mikael Ymer initially appealed his ban to an independent tribunal, which cleared the Swede.
However, the International Tennis Federation appealed the three-member independent tribunal's decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.
The CAS reversed the independent tribunal's decision and ruled Ymer's 18-month ban was just.
Read the Court of Arbitration for Sport statement on Ymer's case here.
"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," Mikael Ymer posted on Twitter. "Having already been cleared once, and wholeheartedly standing by the fact that I do not feel that the 3rd 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."
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said in a statement that Ymer "failed in ensuring his compliance" with the whereabouts rule and found that the "degree of fault of the player, a professional and experienced athlete, was high, although the third whereabouts failure could be described as the result of culpable negligence."
Mikael Ymer is currently ranked No. 51 and is coming off a solid grass-court season that saw him reach the Eastbourne quarterfinals and upset American Taylor Fritz in five sets to reach the Wimbledon third round.
The 18-month ban on Ymer comes a couple of weeks after American Jenson Brooksby announced he had accepted a six-month provisional suspension for allegedly missing three doping tests and planned to appeal the decision to an independent tribunal as Ymer did in his case.
“As of July 5 2023, I will be accepting a provisional suspension due to an allegation of three missed tests in a 12- month period,” Brooksby posted on Instagram. “The provisional suspension is not an admission that I have done anything wrong; to the contrary, I have denied this charge and I'm waiting for an arbitration with an independent Tribunal.”
"The Protocols of the anti doping program are in place to protect the integrity of our sport, and I respect and support these protocols. I have never failed a drug test. And I have never taken any substances that I was not allowed to take."