Mikael Ymer changes his mind on return to tennis amid anti-doping ban: "Retirement was boring"

Ten months after dramatically announcing his retirement, Mikael Ymer has revealed that he’s changed his mind. The Swede returned to social media to let fans know he’ll indeed return to professional tennis after he finishes serving out an anti-doping suspension.

“Retirement was boring,” Ymer wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, “see u in 8 months.”

It’s just the latest twist in a convoluted saga for the 25-year-old, who was ranked as high as world No. 50 last year. In his final tournament at Wimbledon in 2023, he reached the third round for the first time after coming back from two sets down to stun No. 9 Taylor Fritz.

But his rise was cut short just a month later, when he was banned for 18 months after being recorded as a “no show” for three out-of-competition doping tests in a 12-month period back in 2021. Ymer accepted his first two missed tests, but argued that the third was the result of a miscommunication with his agent after a tournament changed his accommodations.

Ymer, who was first charged in January 2022, fought the charges and was initially cleared by an independent tribunal in June. But after the ITF appealed this decision, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) partially upheld the original two-year ban and imposed an 18-month suspension in July 2023.

“(CAS) has suspended me from professional tennis for 18 months, despite never having used nor been accused of using banned substances," Ymer wrote on X at the time.

"Having already been cleared once, and wholeheartedly standing by the fact that I do not feel that the third offense 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."

Ymer received public support from fellow players including brother Elias Ymer, former world No. 2 Casper Ruud, Corentin Moutet and Alize Cornet, but as the reality of the situation set in the Swede took to social media a month later to announce the end of his career.

"I've decided to retire from professional tennis. Thank you all for the amazing memories!” he wrote. “What a ride it's been! I wish all my old colleagues well going forward in competition. God is Great always.”

His decision was met with shock and dismay from the tennis community, who lamented Ymer’s potential as he’d reached one ATP final (2021 Winston-Salem) and had claimed his first Top 10 win against Fritz at Wimbledon before his suspension.

But Ymer had also earned a reputation for erratic behavior: In May 2023, just two months before his suspension, he was defaulted from a match in Lyon and fined $40,000 after smashing his racquet into the chair umpire’s stand. And in March, he turned heads once again with a series of now-deleted Tweets in which he accused tennis authorities of conspiring against him to extend his ban: “Don't look me in the face and say this aint a race thing fuck u mean it ain't a race thing,” he wrote before deleting his X account altogether.

One month later, it seems like things are looking up for Ymer once again. The news of his return to social media and tennis met with enthusiastic support from fans and fellow players including Thanasi Kokkinakis, who replied: “Haha could’ve seen this coming.”

Ymer will be eligible to return to tennis in January 2025.