Stockholm (AFP): Swedish tennis player Mikael Ymer on Friday announced his decision to step away from professional tennis, following his 18-month suspension in July for having missed three doping tests.
“I’ve decided to retire from professional Tennis,” Ymer wrote on social network X, formerly known as Twitter.
In July, the 24-year-old said the International Tennis Federation (ITF) had charged him in early 2022 for having missed three “out of competition test attempts” during a 12-month period.
Despite being first cleared of the charges by an independent tribunal, ITF appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which ruled in favour of the ITF.
The arbitration court concluded that Ymer, who was ranked 51 in the world at the time, had “failed in ensuring his compliance with the anti-doping regulations by omitting to verify his whereabouts”.
In his post to social media, Ymer said that he was banned “despite never having used nor been accused of using banned substances.” “I find their decision to try me again and subsequently find me guilty, unfair,” Ymer said. Ymer was defeated in the third round of Wimbledon this year by Daniel Galan of Colombia.
