Mikael Ymer has been banned from tennis for 18 months ©Getty Images

Tennis players Mikael Ymer and Sydney Dorcil have been banned from the sport for 18 months and four years, respectively, after breaching anti-doping rules.

Sweden's world number 51 Ymer received the punishment for missing three out-of-competition doping tests in a 12-month period.

The decision came from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after it partially upheld an appeal from the International Tennis Federation.

"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," Ymer wrote on Twitter.

"On top of that, I find it difficult to comprehend that they found an 18-month suspension to be a just punishment."

Ymer claims that he has never used banned substances or been prohibited from doing so.

Mikael Ymer has claimed the 18-month ban issued by the CAS is too severe ©Twitter
Mikael Ymer has claimed the 18-month ban issued by the CAS is too severe ©Twitter

He was initially charged by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in January 2022 after his third whereabouts violation at a challenger tournament in France the previous November.

The 24-year-old accepted his first two breaches but argued that in the third instance he had changed hotel but his agent had not updated his documents. 

That was upheld by an independent tribunal which cleared the player of wrongdoing in June 2022. 

However, the ITF appealed the decision the following month, requesting a two-year ban, before the CAS imposed the slightly reduced sanction.

"The CAS Panel in charge of the matter deliberated and concluded that the Player failed in ensuring his compliance with the anti-doping regulations by omitting to verify his whereabouts filing for 7 November 2021, and by assuming that any discrepancy between his actual and declared whereabouts would be corrected by his agent or by the tennis authorities," read a CAS statement.

Ymer played in this year's Wimbledon Championships where he beat ninth seed American Taylor Fritz in the second round before losing to Colombian Daniel Elahi Galán in the next match.

Mikael Ymer played at Wimbledon this year where he beat ninth-seed American Taylor Fritz ©Getty Images
Mikael Ymer played at Wimbledon this year where he beat ninth-seed American Taylor Fritz ©Getty Images

American Dorcil was also indicted, this time by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).

The 20-year-old reached a career high Women's Tennis Association singles ranking of 1,255 earlier this year but will not be able to play again until January 12 2027.

She was tested at an event in Lima last November with one of her samples containing boldenone.

Boldenone is an anabolic androgenic steroid and synthetic derivative of testosterone.

It was originally developed for veterinary use but can also be used to stimulate muscle growth and increase stamina.