Yonex

Yonex Co., Ltd.

Type	Public
Founded	1946
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Minoru Yoneyama, founder
Industry	Sporting goods
Products	Racquets, shuttlecocks, clubs, snowboards, shoes, apparel, accessories
Employees	1,200 approx.
Website	www.yonex.com

Yonex Co., Ltd. (ヨネックス株式会社, Yonekkusu Kabushiki-gaisha^?) (TYO: 7906) is a Japanese manufacturer of sporting equipment for badminton, golf and tennis, producing racquets, clubs, shoes, shuttlecocks, and other equipment for those sports.

History

The company was founded in 1946 by Minoru Yoneyama as a producer of wooden floats for fishing nets. The company was later forced out of this market because of the invention of plastic floats. This led to a commitment by Yoneyama to never again be left behind by technological advancements. In 1957, Yoneyama began to make badminton racquets for other brands. By 1961, the first Yoneyama branded racquet was introduced, and within another two years an export company was created for the worldwide distribution. After the company began to make aluminum badminton racquets in 1969, it found that the same technology could be applied to the tennis racquet which the company introduced in 1971. The company began to experiment with graphite shafts for both types of racquets and found that these would also be useful for golf clubs. Finding a growing market, the Yonex Corporation (a wholly owned subsidiary) was established in Torrance, California in July 1983. In 1992 Yonex introduced the widebody racquet the "Isometric 500", a racquet that was much less "tear drop" shaped than previous racquets. The more "square" head of the racquet gave it a much larger striking surface, which provides a larger "sweet spot" to hit the shuttle. It led other manufacturers to follow suit in "square-head" or isometric designs. The parent company was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1994.

Yonex in professional tennis

The list of current players includes:

Male Players:

• Lleyton Hewitt
• David Nalbandian
• Joachim Johansson (retired)
• Mario Ančić
• Juan Mónaco
• Paradorn Srichaphan
• Mischa Zverev

Female Players:

• Magdalena Maleeva (retired)
• Kimiko Date Krumm
• Elena Dementieva
• Olivia Rogowska
• Martina Hingis (retired)
• Su-Wei Hsieh
• Ana Ivanović
• Maria Kirilenko
• Anna Kournikova
• Michaëlla Krajicek
• Monica Seles (retired)
• Aleksandra Wozniak
• Nicole Vaidišová
• Yan Zi
• Zheng Jie

1980s Era Yonex Tennis Racquets

R-2, R-3, R-5, R-7 (used by Martina Navratilova), R-10 (used by Vince Van Patten), R-18, R-19, R-20, R-22 (used by Martina Navratilova, Jonathan Ho and Andrés Gómez), R-23, R-24 (used by Pam Shriver), R-27 (used by Martina Navratilova, Aaron Krickstein and Jonathan Ho), R-30, R-50, R-60, R-70, R-80, R-271, RX-32, RX-37

Yonex in professional badminton

The list of current players includes:

Male Players:

• Peter Gade
• Lars Paaske
• Candra Wijaya
• Taufik Hidayat
• Sony Dwi Kuncoro
• Markis Kido
• Hendra Setiawan
• Nova Widianto
• Lee Chong Wei
• Tan Boon Heong
• Koo Kien Keat
• Tony Gunawan

Female Players:

• Maria Kristin Yulianti
• Xu Huaiwen
• Saralee Thoungthongkam

Yonex Badminton Racquets

Yonex have created many badminton racquets which are divided into series. The series are:

Bold: rackets currently used on the highest level

Arcsaber (Arc): even-balanced rackets; newest carbon technology applied

• used by many top players, e.g. former Olympic Champion Taufik Hidayat, Danish trick master Peter Gade

Armortec (AT): head-heavy rackets: more power (see Lever)

• used by silver-medal olympian Lee Chong Wei

Nanospeed (NS): head-light rackets: faster racket movement; nanotechnology applied

• used by top Korean singles player Park Sung-hwan

Titanium (Ti): currently used most in doubles play

• used by Malaysians Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong

Muscle Power (MP): racket with rounded archways that allows all strings to be equal throughout the string bed. Replace the Isometric line

• formerly used by Indonesian Sony Dwi Kuncoro

Isometric (Iso): introducing isometric head shape, enlarging the sweet spot
Carbonex (Cab)
Aerotus
Basic (B)

Yonex today

Yonex has managed to become the dominant corporate player in badminton. Yonex sponsors the All England Open Badminton Championships and is a partner of the Badminton World Federation which organizes the World Championships. Upwards of 80% of competitive players use their racquets, as it is the preferred choice amongst professionals. Yonex is significant in both the tennis and golf industry and is a major sponsor of professional athletes in all three sports.

Yonex racquets range from as little as 10 US dollars to 230 US dollars. Some of the company's most popular product lines include the Nanospeeds, Muscle Powers, Armortecs, and Arcsabers.

External links

• Company website