Mikael Ymer's retirement announcement last year caused quite the shock, but it hasn't taken him long to rethink his decision.
In August 2023, Ymer announced that he was hanging up his rackets, just a month after being slapped with an 18-month ban from the sport for missing three out-of-competition doping tests within a 12-month period back in 2021.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) had ruled that the Swede was culpable of breaching the anti-doping regulations following an appeal by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
Ymer immediately shared his disappointment on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) at the time and reiterated that he had never consumed or been accused of taking any banned substances. Some of his fellow pros have leaped onto his defense.
His retirement was definitely a major shock, considering that he was only 25 and had just broken into the Top 50. This year, Ymer voiced his frustration and fury in a series of tweets, citing racial discrimination as a key driver in landing him the suspension.
He accused tennis authorities of double standards, mentioning that another Top 40 player did not face similar repercussions to his for the same offense.
Ymer subsequently deleted the tweets that he directed towards Nordea Open tournament director Christer Hult and disabled his account. But on Monday, he shared an update on X that he was coming from retirement.
Because he has not completed serving his suspension, Ymer cannot immediately return to the sport to play or train within an ITF or ATP-affiliated tournament. But he intends to rejoin the tour after eight months, possibly early next year.
"Retirement was boring see u in 8 months."
Ymer has since dropped outside the world's Top 300 and will probably be unranked when he returns in 2025. He played his last official tournament before his retirement at Wimbledon last season, and impressed in a run to the third round.
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