Keys to Yonex?
- Thread starter Robert F
- Start date
LiamMiguel
Semi-Pro
Yeah, when in all black and assuming she's still on a Wilson deal until the start of the new season, new EZone in black would make sense. (I wish I went to the Charlotte Invitational where I'm 20 minutes away from Spectrum Center but unfortunately, I am stuck in college for finals)
vsbabolat
Talk Tennis Guru
Yup, she’s switched to the Yonex Ezone
So many players have gone to Yonex.
Is it just great marketing and recruitment by Yonex with good racquet deals?
Do players see other players doing well, so they figure lets give Yonex a try and is it just in their heads?
Or does Yonex have some special going on with their secret sauce?
Seemed we had a similar trend with Babolat about 10 years ago? Flailing pros would switch to Babolat in an effort to retain some glory? Plus their racquets look good?
Is it just great marketing and recruitment by Yonex with good racquet deals?
Do players see other players doing well, so they figure lets give Yonex a try and is it just in their heads?
Or does Yonex have some special going on with their secret sauce?
Seemed we had a similar trend with Babolat about 10 years ago? Flailing pros would switch to Babolat in an effort to retain some glory? Plus their racquets look good?
Dae18
Hall of Fame
Obviously so stencil, she’s still in the off-season testing out like many others. We’ll only know if she switches when the new season/year comes. Honestly I find it funny how Yonex kept the blue bumper/grommets instead of making it all blacked out. I mean the head shape is a dead giveaway on what brand it is but atleast make it an unknown model
bobeeto
Hall of Fame
A lot of the US players are switching or have switched to Yonex, largely due to the OG Yonex Americans - Tiafoe, Pegula, Osaka
And the newer US Yonex players: Shelton, Giron, Navarro (maybe)
People like Paul, Nakashima, sock, Townsend, Keys (more I’m forgetting) are probably influenced by their USA teammates / friends
Yonex was the “I’m different” brand about 3 years ago and has garnered enough star power across the world now where most lifelong bab and wilson players are trying yonex rackets for the first time in their life, hoping that the isometric shape will give them some magic. (Murray lol)
Something new, something exciting in change for some people. Yonex has been a quality brand for a long time, they’re just having their day in the sun rn!
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vsbabolat
Talk Tennis Guru
Yonex has been around a lot longer than 3 years and has always had a stable of men and women’s players.
bobeeto
Hall of Fame
Of course, but amongst US club players, college players, and pro players - they have solidified themselves as a top brand in the past little while imo
D-Lite
Hall of Fame
I remember when it was mainly Hewitt, Nalbandian and Ancic (maybe a couple more) on the ATP side using them. Since about 2015-2017 I feel the numbers on the ATP side have sky rocketed. In the 00s it was far more common to see WTA players with them. My first time playing with one was 2008 when Hewitt (briefly) and Ivanovic had the black/red frame which I actually loved as a racket.
vsbabolat
Talk Tennis Guru
No, they’ve been a top brand for 45 years. You’ve had so many grand slam winners both men and women. Nothing has changed
vsbabolat
Talk Tennis Guru
You have forgotten Stan the man, Rios, Richard Krajicek, Washington. Prince not sponsoring anyone has created a vacuum. Yonex has benefitted form that. Yonex has always been a big player on both tours and always had big names. I remember as a kid when the first isometric graphite rackets came out with the R-7 and R-10. Was very popular at the clubs.
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D-Lite
Hall of Fame
Wawrinka was 2012 alongside Tomic, I think both had been with Head prior. The others you listed were before the time I started following tennis. Still I think for a long time the numbers of top WTA players outweighed the men by a good margin until the past 8-10 years or so.
innoVAShaun
G.O.A.T.
They even blacked out her butt cap:
Yonex has always been a name in tennis. But, in the US it always seemed like a 2nd tier brand recreationally. Didn't see a lot of juniors and young kids or club adults hoisting out Yonex racquest. The old typical big 3 seemed most common Wilson, Babolat and Head. About 25 years ago Babolat was all the rage. It seems Yonex now has that magic dust the last 3 years as Kyrgios and Osaka helped popularized the EZONe and the new crop of pro players with Yonex are now all over the place. This then translates to tons of club players with Ezones. Kids and Adults.
vsbabolat
Talk Tennis Guru
I’ve been fallowing tennis a lot longer than you. Yonex has always been a top brand and has always has had top men playing their rackets. More women have won slams with their rackets though. You had Andres Gomez, Pat Cash, Aaron Krickstein, I can go on and on.
McLovin
Legend
...and Sergi Bruguera...
To put a pin in this...I grew up playing the R-22 & R-27, and in college had the Cash-endorsed R-50. This was early 1980s...in upstate NY...
Bunch of guys in addition to those already mentioned.
Mal Washington, Michael Joyce, Jaime Yzaga, Leander Paes (briefly), Paradorn Srichiphan, Mario Ancic, Joachim Johansson (Pim-Pim), Ricardas Berankis, Go Soeda,
Karol Kucera, Mischa Zverev (briefly), Juan Monaco, Andrea Collarini, Fernando Verdasco (two tournaments), Johan Kriek, Sammy Giammalva, Vince Van Patten, Jeff Tarango, Alex Kuznetsov, Denis Shapavolov, Denis Kudla, Jaume Munar, Shintaro Mochizuki, Radu Albot, Sho Shimabukuro
Mal Washington, Michael Joyce, Jaime Yzaga, Leander Paes (briefly), Paradorn Srichiphan, Mario Ancic, Joachim Johansson (Pim-Pim), Ricardas Berankis, Go Soeda,
Karol Kucera, Mischa Zverev (briefly), Juan Monaco, Andrea Collarini, Fernando Verdasco (two tournaments), Johan Kriek, Sammy Giammalva, Vince Van Patten, Jeff Tarango, Alex Kuznetsov, Denis Shapavolov, Denis Kudla, Jaume Munar, Shintaro Mochizuki, Radu Albot, Sho Shimabukuro
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Dae18
Hall of Fame
I guess so. Now I’m wondering if she ever tested the 2022 version
vsbabolat
Talk Tennis Guru
Those are old Vapor X. A lot older than 2 seasons
Yep, you're right! I was trying to figure out what year this colourway of the X was released (I had it too) from and hedged my bets with '2 years' but yes quite a bit older. Guess Nike hasn't sent her anything for 2025 yet...or maybe she's going for a head-to-toe Yonex deal? Rumour officially starting here.
heftylefty
Hall of Fame
Yonex is a good stick
Since NIke sucks A $ $, it's probably hard to find a shoe you actually like.
Upon further inspection she just never switched away from the Vapor X, which is interesting. Love Nike but I do agree they need to right the ship when it comes to the footwear side of things: they make 3 or 4 of the best current shoe silos, they just won't sell them to anybody
I've had some of the best fits and tennis shoes from the nike and some of the worst.
I've come to settle for brands that are much more consistent with production and consistentcy between year to year models--which has been Wilson for me now. Asics fit the bill for a while too.
I've come to settle for brands that are much more consistent with production and consistentcy between year to year models--which has been Wilson for me now. Asics fit the bill for a while too.
RandomAsian
Rookie
Didn't somebody say the Steam is coming back as the Ultra Pro 100?
I'm in no way as knowledgeable as vsbabolat but I've long had this impression that Yonex was female racquet.
Sorry but this list hardly means anything. If you list the past and present Wilson/Head/Babolat players this way, you'll need ten times more space each.
vsbabolat
Talk Tennis Guru
That’s because Yonex would spend money on high profile female players.
I'm not going to engage in a petty argument over which brand had greater representation at what point in time. The point is (and it's a relevant point) that Yonex has been around in the hands of players for a long time. It's not a new brand. And it's had its fair share of male players.
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Yonex has been a stellar brand for years, but I think it has become the "It" Brand of the past 3 years and really heated up this past year on the tour and recreationally.
I don't remember it every being the racquet to get since being a kid until now. Racquet nerds over the year would talk good about Yonex but almost as a side note "If you are unhappy with your APD and want a little more heft try the Yonex..."
Generationally, I think Prince and Wilson were the "It" brands on and off (Prince Pro, T2000, Prostaff, Hammer lines) in the US up and through the late 90s with Head getting some popularity when Agassi was radical and then Babolat became a star in the mid 2000s. I wonder if market share is more evenly distributed than it was even 20 years ago??
I don't remember it every being the racquet to get since being a kid until now. Racquet nerds over the year would talk good about Yonex but almost as a side note "If you are unhappy with your APD and want a little more heft try the Yonex..."
Generationally, I think Prince and Wilson were the "It" brands on and off (Prince Pro, T2000, Prostaff, Hammer lines) in the US up and through the late 90s with Head getting some popularity when Agassi was radical and then Babolat became a star in the mid 2000s. I wonder if market share is more evenly distributed than it was even 20 years ago??
The philosophy of Yonex when it was founded in...............1946 was to do "things different from others" and go against the grain. Have you been in a coma all this time?
tennis4me
Legend
Some insights into Yonex tennis history and market share ...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/justin...became-a-55-year-overnight-success-in-tennis/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/justin...became-a-55-year-overnight-success-in-tennis/
Casey 1988
Semi-Pro
Even brands Like Prince date back to the 1970's around 1972/1973. It is just that Prince is not sponsoring players right now for some reason, the 2008 Great Recession the company dropped resigning players until now they have no pro presence.
Only way old brands in tennis Pre WWII still going that the 1920's or 1930's depressions did not kill off or WWII ended are Spalding now back to what the brand was known for originally in 1800's making only sports Balls in the 2010's stopping even the portable Basketball hoop despite making some racquets and other sports goods since the 1890's, Wilson making racquets since 1880's as the older Wilson Bros before the one brother quit, and yes in 1915 Kawasaki Tennis a different brand from Kawasaki Motors got started making wood and bamboo racquets.
Yes, Kawasaki still makes Tennis models for the Public for Tennis not just soft tennis or just badminton the brand is known for just the brand is mainly sold using AliExpress as the sellers platform for the Japanese owned company selling direct from the Mainland Chinese factories (set up in 2002 a factory for Kawasaki) to the USA.
https://kawasaki.aliexpress.com/sto...d=10000001692747&SearchText=&shop_filterType=
bobeeto
Hall of Fame
People seem to have missed the point here - speaking to the collegiate and club level around me, in Utah and LA. Of course people know and have used Yonex as long as they’ve been around, but their market share has strongly increased in the last 5 years. Yonex is the cool kids racket these days in the states -and the census agrees
bobeeto
Hall of Fame
ServenVolley
New User
Don’t forget John McMenroe at Roland Garros in ‘92!
(I think the story was that after a practice session with Gomez, Mac took two of Gomez’ personal rackets and had them strung up with his yellow Pacific gut and used them in a couple of tournaments)
Casey 1988
Semi-Pro
Oh, I know players are switching to the Babolat brand but there are also players from Babolot moving to Wilson now. This is because of a few things, Babolat might not be making a Rafa model anymore, and Yonnex has made a few modern 95--98 inch frames for power players who want a smaller frame they can maneuver easy for the shift to Yonnex. Wilson is becuse of a frame made for a player no longer playing a bunch of pro players really like as well as Wilson making some 96--98 older style frames again that people want to buy because the previous old versions are hard to find so the brand is keeping the hording down that pros were doing in the 2000's where the top guy for the Wilson pro racquets had to scour e-Bay and the like for some models. Even now some cheap Graphite frames are made that the pros might like from Wilson they are willing to use that are a modern Graphite take on the normal super wide Hammer frame. The problem I keep hearing online here and on other places like YouTube is Babolat keeps making just ever so slightly more muted frames outside of the Pure Rafa and one oops model in 2019 that had too much vibration are the models from Babolat give no feedback allowing players easy slip into a poor form for the specific player to the point they get hurt using a bad technique.
Other major problem is these brands are dropping sponsors because of the current economics about to come apart becuse brands are upping prices on everything for no good reason just to make obscene profits where 1/2 the time the models for anything except a few non clothing, non electronics/mechanical items unlike Tennis racquets, the rest that is more mechanical or is ment to be a tool are made so poor you get about 1--3 years use before they break or are unusable. Then take in Tennis the current models are so wildly out of spec some brands have to have +/-- 7 grams to where models can be up to 14--15 grams different. This is why brands like Yonnex or in rec Prince are killing it becuse these Japanese brands are good on being more in spec so Pro Players are not having to match as badly as prior or ask for specific runs of a model during the year/buy a bunch of said models as soon as they find out they like the current model. This is similar to the brands making models of Cars or trucks most of Honda besides a few poorly made models like the more current, last few years Ridgeline or that Hybrid meant to compete with the Toyoda Prius having poorly design/placed battery issues same as the bigger hybrid and most Toyoda are the top brands in the USA right now.
Due to issues with how companies are doing things with sponsors moving to giving people on YouTube/similar places a chance to test frames, the brands are playing a role in the sports Pro Sponsorship by cutting it like how ProKennex has a ZeroLoveTennis on YouTube, formerly by a different name his first year, TennisNerd is using Babolat and on TennCom he has the Babolat Aero/Technifiber models that the other newer guy uses.
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Rabbit
G.O.A.T.
The version I heard was that he got those rackets from Kricker. McEnroe complained his arm was sore and Aaron Krickstein gave him some of his frames.
Way, way, way, way back, Yonex was considered a "chick stick". The head honcho of Yonex was determined to lure a male player and get a foothold in the ATP. The first male player I remember using a Yonex was Vince Van Patten during the summer swing leading up to the US Open. After that, it was a dry spell until Andres Gomes signed up. I do agree that Yonex has gained a big following in the ATP. I was watching a match the other night and the commentator said that Juan Monaco got whoever he is coaching (can't remember his name) to switch to Yonex as Monaco said he'd get a 15% boost from the frame in control/spin/power.
I think the single biggest boon to Yonex was when the coaxed Marcelo Rios away from Prince. The extended frame he endorsed was a big seller.
But I don't think it can be disputed now that Yonex is one of the mainstays on both tours now to the detriment of the big 3. I have also noticed they are doing really well at the club level now.
ServenVolley
New User
I think you’re right about it being Krickstein.
Mac was all over the place that year, he played doubles with Agassi using a red Völkl (I don’t know whose racket it was but I’m going to guess Korda?)
mcenroe84
New User
I think this is a factor.....unique and quality product
