Mikael Ymer accuses ITF and WADA of partiality and unlawful investigation as he gets banned for 18 months

The recent ban on Mikael Ymer has given rise to many kinds of opinions on the rules and protocols of men’s tennis. For many, it’s very harsh, and for many, it’s necessary. The tennis ace has been banned for 18 months for missing three doping tests. It is a punishable offense, but is the punishment a bit too harsh?

Ymer finally broke his silence on the entire matter through two long tweets about what all happened and how he felt. The Swedish player talks about how a misunderstanding has actually resulted in him being banned from the tour. 

He has blamed the ITF for trying to ban him and act harshly on him despite him being cleared of any wrongdoing by an independent tribunal. After losing at the Paris Master’s in 2021, Ymer traveled to play a Challenger in France. He usually is booked into a main hotel but for some reason, he was sent to a secondary hotel. As he mentions in the tweet, players are tested almost every day of the year and thanks to his manager he has been available and proven to be negative each time.

He keeps his daily availability hour at 6-7 a.m., as he is sure to be in his room during that period. The doping test team went to the main hotel and found out that Ymer wasn’t there. Ymer specifies further, “At 6.55 I received 1 call from a Spanish number and I didn’t for a second think it was anything important. I get tons of spam calls and was in my safe zone in a tournament hotel.

Besides, since I was 3 km away, it wouldn’t have made a difference anyway, as my available hour was ending at 7 and I couldn’t have made it to the main hotel in 5 minutes. Upon learning that I wasn’t at the hotel, and despite knowing that a player’s career was on the line, he decided to run down the clock until he called me.”

For calling late at 6.55, the official claimed during the hearing that it wasn’t obligatory for him to call until 5 minutes before the end time. However, in that very hearing, Ymer’s attorney was able to prove that the official once actually went out of his way to see that a player got his test done.

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Ymer not guilty of his missed test

Mikael Ymer clearly said in the second part of his tweet that he is not guilty of his missed test. He was where he was told to be and his agent was also aware of that. Also, he pointed out that this system of doping tests has always worked well for him and many other athletes his agent works for. Ymer said, “I understand that as an athlete with obvious advantages, there comes certain responsibility, and I accept that fully.

He added, “From my point of view, there was nothing we could have done differently regarding this third offence. I’m not sitting here with the feeling of “if only I had done it this way or that way. I followed our system and trusted my agent, like I had done for years. A system that worked for me and a lot of other athletes. There was no negligence or sloppiness. The independent tribunal of arbitrators obviously understood this and cleared me.“

Continuing his train of thoughts, he further added, “For some reason ITF and CAS felt differently, and despite accepting the evidence put forward from us and our explanations, they still came to the conclusion that a ban was warranted, and that I should have done differently.”

Ymer is disappointed that this has happened in the prime of his career, when he is at his best ranking. He feels that he will have to start from scratch to get back to a good level. He has thanked his fans for all the good wishes and hopes to make a comeback soon.

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