Swing in Comfort or Power With Yonex

We took advantage of a sun break from the San Francisco December drear to try out two new tennis rackets, the Yonex E-Zone and the Yonex S-Fit 1. Since some of us have recently been reviving our high school tennis skills (older than we care to admit), so we eagerly approached the courts with our new rackets.

They arrived in lovely black drawstring bags- quite appealing. However, crammed into our crowded car and skipping to the court, the less-than-complementary comparison to over-sized shoe bags dampened our excitement for the packaging. You know the fitted racket bag with a little padding and a convenient shoulder strap? Not so much.

The main selling point of the Yonex S-Fit seems to be the dual stringing options. If there was a button we could push to switch between the option optimized for speed (for our ambitious days) and for comfort (for the rest of the time), we’d be in love. Though not commitment-phobic, the need to get the racquet re-strung between the two versions doesn’t seem very convenient to us. We suppose, though, it provides the potential for a longer relationship between you and the racquet, starting with a comfort-fit stringing, and growing your game into the speed pattern. We’re told that innovative dual oval pressed shaft provides 10% less vibration and air resistance with 13% more stability. This didn’t make a difference in our game play, but perhaps the racquet was holding out until we committed to more game-days.

Those of you ready to bring more power to your game consistently might want to check out the Yonex E-Zone. Serbian player Ana Ivanovic chats about her experience with the racquet on the official site. We (barely) stifled snarky comments when the most salient features of the racquet (or at least the first addressed) were how “elegant” it was. “Very simple, but very nice.” This, coming from someone whose topless pose came to the top of our google search. Snark aside, it’s hard to argue with someone with such an impressive record. We did find it quite powerful when we tried it out, with improved frame stability, response and stiffness. If we’re honest, we’ll admit that we’re not yet in the “intermediate to advanced” player category that this racquet is geared towards, but we’re hoping that we’ll get there soon. Some of us are “small” (5’3”) and still found the E-Zone wieldable.

We’re not sure that we’d choose these racquets over past favorites, but we definitely enjoyed our tennis outing. We’re hoping the weather allows us more court time this winter. For the rainy days, perhaps a little cross-training??

Amazon lists the S-Fit racket twice, based on stringing preference. We found both the comfort pattern and the speed pattern for $189. The E-Zone is thankfully only listed once for $199.