Yonex Vcore 100 Tennis Racket (Unstrung)

Scarlet

If you know the story behind YONEX’s beginnings, you know their rackets are some of the most technologically advanced money can buy.

It starts with founder Minoru Yoneyama, a producer of wooden floats for fishing nets, who, frustrated at being put out of business by modern, plastic floats, vowed to chase innovation at every opportunity, whatever industry he would go into next.

Thankfully for the tennis world, he chose rackets. Utilising his expertise in engineering and equipment bequeathed by his late father, in 1957 he set about making frames worthy of Japan’s history of craftsmanship. First wooden badminton rackets, and then, in 1969, the T-7000 – an aluminium tennis racket that proved immensely popular in both Japan and the West.

Suddenly a global brand, Yoneyama Racquets, as they were known, needed a more approachable name for international markets, and YONEX won the day. They would, though, preserve a little of Yoneyama by way of the iconic “YY” logo, which remains an instantly recognisable mark of quality.

In the following years, YONEX developed tech such as the stabilising Oval Pressed Shaft and sweetspot-enlarging ISOMETRIC head shape, which are just a couple of the innovations that continue to give their rackets an advantage over the competition.

Their rackets have been used by the likes of Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Monica Seles, Martin Hingis, and Lleyton Hewitt, while modern-day endorsees include Naomi Osaka, Stan Wawrinka, Nick Kyrgios, Denis Shapovalov, Casper Ruud, Angelique Kerber, and Frances Tiafoe. That’s a lot of big names!

As for types of racket, it’s simple: there’s the EZONE for power, the VCORE for spin, and the VCORE PRO for control. All available in a range of weights and sizes, with juniors catered for too. Minoru vowed he would never again be left behind by his rivals, now it’s your turn to pick up a YONEX racket and make the same promise.

Control rackets usually have closed string patterns – essentially, more strings per area – to increase ball contact and give you more control over your shots. They tend to have thinner beams to allow more flex and often utilise material technologies to make you feel more connected to the ball.

Spin rackets typically have open string patterns – fewer strings with more space between them – to allow the strings more “bite” on the ball and make it easier to produce spin. They often have specially designed grommets that increase the effect, along with aerodynamic frames for faster racket speed through the air.