Former World No. 50 Ymer Set For Tennis Return After Suspension And Retirement
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Former ATP World No. 50, Mikael Ymer, will make a return to the tennis courts at the 2025 Davis Cup Qualifiers.
Only a few years ago, it seemed that Mikael Ymer might become one of the most successful Swedish players of this generation. Following in the footsteps of the likes of Bjorn Borg and Mats Wilander is not easy, but the Ymer brothers, Elias and Mikael, tried to represent the country well.
That was until July 2023, when Ymer announced his suspension from the sport after missing three out-of-competition tests in a period of 12 months, which is against the anti-doping rules.
The Swedish player was devastated by the ban, as he just reached his career high a few weeks before that, and it seemed that his tennis career was finally taking off.
In 2023, he played in the third round of the Wimbledon Championships, which was also the last tournament he played before being suspended for 18 months.
Angry about the decision to suspend him for a year-and-a-half, Ymer announced his retirement from professional tennis about a month after the announcement of his suspension.
It was an unusual development, but it just showed how difficult it was for the Swedish player to cope with the news of not being able to compete. In April 2024, however, he changed his decision.
Ymer announced that he would return to the sport, posting: "Retirement was boring. See you in eight months." That announcement certainly made his fans happy, but with his turbulent past years, it wasn't granted that he would really return to the tennis courts.
That now seems to be confirmed, at least according to the Swedish publication Expressen, which reported that Mikael Ymer should be part of Sweden's team in the upcoming Davis Cup Qualifiers tie.
Sweden will host the second-seeded Australia in the first round of the 2025 Davis Cup Qualifiers. The tie will take place from January 31st until February 1st at the Royal Tennis Hall in Stockholm, Sweden.
According to the report from Expressen, Ymer has been working on his game against some of the best Swedish players. The Swedish Tennis Association's sports manager, Simon Aspelin, spoke about the 26-year-old's comeback, saying that he should be named in the Davis Cup squad.
"The plan is for him to be involved. He is training right now. He has been doing that for quite some time now. Mikael and I have had good and continuous contact. I know that he trains relatively a lot now and has done so in Stockholm."
"I haven't been with him on the court, but I know he plays practice matches. He also does a lot of physical training. Mikael is in pretty good shape. I haven't seen him play in the last few weeks. The plan is to see a little more in the coming weeks now that it's getting closer to the game."
The final deadline for submitting the squad for the first round of the 2025 Davis Cup Qualifiers is on January 6th. However, that's before the end of Ymer's suspension. Therefore, the Swedish Tennis Association plans to later add him to the line-up.
