First appeared in BOXSCORE
By Aron Solomon
In January 2022, Swedish professional tennis player Mikael Ymer was charged with a potential anti-doping rule violation by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for missing three out-of-competition tests within a 12-month period.
As Attorney John Lawlor explains, “The point of out-of-competition doping is to catch athletes who may be using banned substances during periods when they are not actively competing.”
Ymer, whose career-high ranking is world number 50, fought the charges and was cleared by an independent tribunal of three arbitrators in June 2022. Despite this initial clearance, the ITF appealed the decision, leading to a subsequent hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Stunningly, on Tuesday, the CAS suspended Ymer from professional tennis for 18 months, despite him never having used or been accused of using banned substances.
While the ITF process was designed to ensure a level playing field and to deter athletes from using prohibited substances to enhance their performance, Ymer’s suspension is fundamentally unfair and shows some glaring flaws that need fundamental re-examining:
Double Jeopardy and the Principle of Finality:
One of the fundamental principles of justice is the protection against double jeopardy, which prohibits an individual from being tried twice for the same offense. In Ymer’s case, he was already cleared by an independent tribunal, consisting of three arbitrators appointed under the ITF’s own rules. The decision to appeal this clearance and subject Ymer to another hearing at the CAS undermines the principle of finality and raises questions about the fairness of the process.
Lack of Evidence of Banned Substance Use:
It is important to note that Ymer has never been accused of using banned substances. The charges against him were solely based on missed out-of-competition tests. The fact that Ymer was cleared by an independent tribunal suggests a lack of substantial evidence to support the anti-doping rule violation. The CAS’s decision to suspend Ymer for 18 months without concrete evidence of banned substance use is disproportionate and unjust.
The 18-month suspension imposed on Ymer also raises concerns about how well punishments in the tennis world fit the severity of the alleged violations.
Jenson Brooksby, an American player who has been ranked as high as world number 33, received a provisional suspension earlier this month from the same governing body for missing three whereabouts tests. Whereabouts is a concept that requires the sport’s highest-ranked players to provide, on a quarterly basis, a record of their competition schedule, location, and a daily one-hour time slot in which they are available for testing when out of competition.
Finally, it makes no sense to bring up a new story on tennis doping without addressing the elephant in the room: the clock watch on the Simona Halep doping ban appeal. As early as today, we are expecting a decision on Halep’s case, almost a year after she was provisionally suspended on a doping violation. Halep is a former world number 1 – a true tennis legend with fans all over the world. How intently her case and been followed and how well she has been supported throughout by her fans has been very interesting to watch.
At an absolute minimum, rules and procedures around provisional violations need to be less opaque, certainly to the public who follows the sport and supports these athletes.
There will surely be more to come on this story as the long, hot summer of tennis and the law continues to unfold.
About Aron Solomon
A Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer, Aron Solomon, JD, is the Chief Legal Analyst for Esquire Digital and the Editor-in-Chief for Today’s Esquire. He has taught entrepreneurship at McGill University and the University of Pennsylvania, and was elected to Fastcase 50, recognizing the top 50 legal innovators in the world. Aron has been featured in Forbes, CBS News, CNBC, USA Today, ESPN, TechCrunch, The Hill, BuzzFeed, Fortune, Venture Beat, The Independent, Fortune China, Yahoo!, ABA Journal, Law.com, The Boston Globe, YouTube, NewsBreak, and many other leading publications.
A Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer, Aron Solomon, JD, is the Chief Strategy Officer for AMPLIFY. He has taught entrepreneurship at McGill University and the University of Pennsylvania, and was elected to Fastcase 50, recognizing the top 50 legal innovators in the world. Aron has been featured in Newsweek, The Hill, Fast Company, Fortune, Forbes, CBS News, CNBC, USA Today, ESPN, TechCrunch, BuzzFeed, Venture Beat, The Independent, Fortune China, Abogados, Today’s Esquire, Yahoo!, ABA Journal, Law.com, The Boston Globe, and many other leading publications across the globe.
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