"It's been unreal and some very difficult days for me. I'm trying to find the right way to process the news and work out how to proceed from here. In the meantime, I won't be making any comments or interviews. I would, however, like to put on record my experience with the 3rd incident that subsequently ended up resulting in the ban."
'It feels like a bad dream' - Ymer
He said that he was moved to a secondary hotel and WADA went to the main hotel so there was a mix up in that regard and he believes that compared to other cases, he was handled wrongly.
"After losing in the Paris Masters 1000 in 2021, I traveled to Roanne, France, to play a Challenger. I am usually booked into the main official hotel. However, when I tried to check in, it turned out I had actually been moved to the secondary hotel," he explained.
"At 6.55 I received 1 call from a Spanish number and I didn’t for a second think it was anything important. Besides, since I was 3 km away, it wouldn’t have made a difference anyway, as my available hour was ending at 7 and I couldn’t have made it to the main hotel in 5 minutes. It just happened to be, that WADA decided to show up for an out of competition test the following morning at the main hotel."
"Upon learning that I wasn’t at the hotel, and despite knowing that a player’s career was on the line, he decided to run down the clock until he called me. My attorney was able to prove that this exact handler had gone out of his way to find a different player at another event, and therefore it is clear that the “protocol” is only applicable if the handler so chooses."
"It feels like a bad dream. I don’t think justice has been served. I am 24 years old, at the prime of my career with a career-high ranking, and I have been banned for 18 months. Are we comfortable affecting young people’s livelihoods like this? Am I a casualty needed for the system to work? So why was I different?"
"I feel like this is an important case and important for other people to know the ins and outs. I’m sure my fellow colleagues on the tour are worried themselves, that one day it could be them. If this is the kind of thing, that can take a player off the tour, everyone is at risk. And if this happened to one of my colleagues, I would feel so bad on his or her behalf. Are we comfortable affecting young people’s livelihood like this? Am I a casualty needed for the system to work? I know for a fact that other players have been cleared after having had 3 strikes (last occasion was 2022), despite being very similar scenarios to mine. So why was I different?"
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
Based in Leicester, Samuel has a broad background in tennis media. In his current role, he works closely with editors and writers to ensure coverage meets clear journalistic standards, with particular attention to verification, consistency, and timely updates when new information becomes available.