WTA world number 70 Alize Cornet is the latest player to voice her support for Sweden's Mikael Ymer, who recently received an 18-month ban for an anti-doping violation.
Ymer's ban relates to three out-of-competition doping tests, which he missed in a 12-month period. He contested the charge and was cleared by an independent tribunal in June 2022. However, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) filed for an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The appeal by ITF was successful, and CAS imposed the ban on the ATP world number 51 a week ago. Ymer's position is clear: he has never used nor been accused of using banned substances, as he explained in a tweet shortly after receiving the upsetting news.
Casper Ruud was the first high-profile pro who publicly supported Ymer, adding that players have become prisoners in meeting their appointments with the doping officer. French WTA star Alize Cornet also weighed in on the issue on Twitter, relating her own incident of missing her drug tests a few years ago before being cleared.
"I don't understand why the ITF keeps harassing players like that. The same thing happened to me and I got cleared by the independent tribunal. It was still the worst 6 months of my career. Thank God the ITF didn't appeal. I can't even imagine how you must feel... Be strong."
Cornet recalls her very own harrowing experience in 2018 in which she was under the ITF's watch for missing three out-of-competition drug tests. Cornet contested her three whereabouts failures and won her case, and was cleared in six months.
Mikael Ymer penned an emotional tweet in which he says 'my conscience is clear with God as my witness' and termed the ITF's decision 'to try me again and subsequently find me guilty' unfair.
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