What Is Inside This Review?
How does the brand new Yonex Percept tennis rackets feel like? You’ll love it if you’re looking for comfort, precision and confidence in every shot.
Yonex’s Japanese samurai sword in the form of the new Percept series of rackets references the Vcore Pro series, but brings new elements to the game in the form of easy playability, high comfort, responsiveness and overall friendliness. It’s not just an old frame sprayed with a new coat of paint. It’s a brand new beginning with one goal in mind – to attract a new audience that has been missing out on the Yonex Vcore Pro experience. In this double review, we take a look at the two most popular models – the Percept 100 and Percept 97. Yokoso!
Life Is A Change
Every time one of the manufacturers modifies the name of a well-established line of rockets, it causes a stir. Not so here. The Vcore Pro series of rackets didn’t last long. It was created in 2018 and in just 4 years it has been on the market in 3 generations, which is quite unique.
The Vcore Pro series focused on control, accuracy, and responsiveness. I’m deliberately referring to it in the past tense because Yonex has already removed the name from their website. The Japanese acuteness is reflected in the timeliness of the website. Instead, you’ll find a Percept box, which translates to “perceive“. It is therefore obvious at a glance what direction the new frames are taking.
They (Percept rackets) emphasize sensitivity, the connection between the player’s arm and the racket, and the perception of all the details when hitting the ball. Greater frame sensitivity also means more emphasis on comfort and clean feedback.
At the same time, the new name Percept fits better with the Yonex concept – we have the Yonex Ezone line of rackets for easy power, punch and stability, then the Yonex Vcore line for ultimate spin and now Yonex Percept for feel, control and accuracy. The one-word name is also easier to sell and present in marketing materials. At the same time, the new name is modern, effective and at first glance distinguishes from the Vcore range, which was definitely not the case with the Vcore Pro name.
Tennis Rackets With a Filter
Each new generation of Yonex tennis rackets also comes with a technological innovation. In the case of the Percept models, Yonex has done some improvement in the flexibility and responsiveness of the frame using a Servo Filter technology. This is a transparent and flexible film that is placed between layers of graphite. This film helps to bond the layers together while retaining its flexible properties even after the pressing process. This gives the racket a number of advantages. The new technology reduces unwanted vibrations by up to 14% and gives the racket perfectly tuned flexibility and snapback, which is the ability of the rackets strings to return to its original position (plane), giving the ball extra speed a spin.
But the question is whether this marketing thing works in practice. The answer comes right from the first strokes – yes, the racket is extremely comfortable and responsive. So comfortable, in fact, that I played the first 2.5 hours with these rackets without my favourite dampener. And that’s saying something!
To better understand the thoroughness of this review, I’ll specify that I spent 3 weeks with the rackets, with 12 hours of crisp, full throttle practice on the court. And after such a thorough time, I can confidently say that the rackets are fabulous. They are not perfect, but they fall short of perfection.
Yonex Percept 100
I got both rackets strung with Yonex PolyTour Rev 1.20 mm string for 25/24 kg. It is a nice octagonal co-polyester of a softer type that is not aggressive and fits well with the rackets. It’s focused on spin and control, which is exactly what fits the rackets.
The Yonex Percept 100 version is a traditional 300g frame balanced at 320mm with a head size of 645cm2. The string layout is 16×19, or the now traditional spinier concept offering easy power and modern spin potential. However, with the Percept range, Yonex is also introducing a more accurate version of this frame, the Yonex Percept 100D, which has a denser 18×19 splice that will suit more demanding players up to tournament level.
The frame’s flex is at a mid-range 66 RA, which has the sole purpose of stabilizing the racket on late ball hits while adding more easy power to the stroke.
Both Percepts are significantly friendlier compared to the previous generation Vcore Pro from 2021. I can especially recommend this 100 version to really any passionate player from intermediate to advanced or tournament-oriented juniors.
I measured a swingweight of only 312 kg/cm2, which is rather below average for this type of racket. This leaves room for additional weights and customizing. The 23 mm wide square frame is surprisingly fast, it cuts through the air very well and you hardly feel the racket in your hand. Compared to the previous generation, the spin potential of the frame has been greatly improved, and it feels almost crude in places.
Loads Of Spin
Let’s pause for a moment at the topspin. Both rackets are characterized by a large ball takeoff angle if you overthrow for a significant spin effect. In some situations, I’ve overshot the court by several feet because of this. I don’t recall ever experiencing a similar twitch where I directly felt the strings pick up the ball, hold it, and shoot it to an unexpected height.
Part of this is due to the thinner diameter of the strings, which I’m not used to, and part of it is probably the more flexible and responsive operation of the frame itself, which doesn’t need to be fed as much by brute force. Much more important than power for these rackets is swing and making the technique as smooth as possible. The more relaxed you play with the rackets, the more you get out of them. You don’t want to fight them, you want to work with them as a team.
Yonex Percept 97
The Yonex Percept 97, with its significantly smaller head, already aspires to be a racket for advanced and competitive players. But the 310g frame balanced at 310mm will show you the most friendly face. The racket plays very similarly to the 100 version, but with the difference that the frame allows you to play more accurately with sharper end shots.
The Percept 97 feels less powerful when you’re just pinging it from the middle of the court at half throttle, but once you give your best and put the energy into the frame, you will get a very impressive amount of power. It’s almost surprising considering the lower swing weight, which in the case of this particular frame was just 311 kg/cm2.
However, control and feel are at a relatively higher level thanks to the very soft frame with a stiffness of just 60 RA. The frame is only 21mm wide and thus feels compact and whizzes through the air like a Formula 1. So you don’t have to worry about arm problems if your stroke technique is right.
No Significant Weakness
When I’m testing tennis rackets, I always notice something that would explicitly bother me and distract me. With Yonex rackets, for example, it might be the bigger and rounder grip. It tends to slide a bit more in the hand and the player struggles a bit with finding the right grip. But it’s a matter of habit and possible modification, where you can always replace the basic synthetic grip with a leather grip, for example, which adds more bite to the grip, so to speak.
I already talked about the aggressive spin potential and I can’t think of any other minor flaws. The strokes from the baseline have a lot of confidence and playfulness at the same time. When I focused on the long balls, I felt that perhaps the rackets had some sort of guidance system.
The amount of strokes to the lines or directly on the lines was definitely higher with both rackets than I am used to. This is due to the overall confidence in the rackets and the arm-to-frame connection, which is exceptional here. The reliability and ease with which you can swing adds confidence, a sense of assurance and hitting comfort to your game.
There’s no point in going over how I’ve swept small corners with my rackets, hit lines, lobbed flawlessly or tormented opponents with short balls. I can do that with virtually any racket. It’s all about what it took and how I felt about it. And it was uplifting, light, playful, unforced, consistent and honest.
The Percept Is NOT a Vcore Pro…
So if you expect Percept rackets to be a pure successor to Vcore Pro models, you won’t get that here. The Percept is aimed more at a new audience, not yet familiar with Yonex. While Head has the Boom, and Wilson has the Clash and Shift, Yonex has now set the bar for technical, technological and feel excellence to a new level with the Percept series. It’s taken the edge off its rivals again. We can talk about the Percept as performance rackets that are as close as possible to the average consumer.
Whether you are at the beginning of your tennis journey, in the middle or perhaps at the end, the Yonex Percept tennis rackets will not let you down. They are as enjoyable as rackets focused on control, accuracy and responsiveness can be. The comfort is incredible. A little bit of the brutal power, raw feedback may be taken out of them, but there’s no need to worry about that.
On the contrary. Tennis is getting faster, spinier, more aggressive, and the new tennis rackets are here to give you a little relief from all that vibration and impact. Long exchanges require the racket to be playable and feel stable for a long time. Pure power is not needed anymore. Health and feel come first.
…And Does It Matter?
I don’t want to say that the Percept are straight-up health rackets, but they’re not far from it. And that’s a huge step forward. So you can enjoy these frames in any situation and at virtually any level. Satisfied owners of the previous Vcore Pro models probably won’t be jumping two meters high for joy, but who knows, maybe they will. What I do know for sure is that for complete Yonex newcomers, this newly named Percept series is the best thing they can add to their tennis racket journey. And I thought I had experienced it all. Enjoy the manooovrlbity!
Pro’s and Con’s of the YONEX PERCEPT 100 & 97 Tennis Rackets
- Great comfort
- Outstanding precision and control
- Stable feel and hitting confidence
- Predictable and responsive feedback
- Nice layfulness and manooovrlbity of the frame
- Bigger and rounder base grip may not fit everyone
- Spin feels unnatural (too aggressive) in some situations
My Yonex Percept Recommendation
Yonex Percept 97 is great for passionate intermediate, advanced and tournament players who want a very precise, lightweight, easy hitting racket with outstanding feel, touch, control and excellent connection to the frame. Advanced and expert players should also consider the other versions like the Yonex Percept 100D (18×19), Percept 97D and Percept 97H.
Yonex Percept 100 is great mostly for intermediate and some weaker advanced players who are very sensitive to the feel of the frame. Players, who need a feel oriented racket that can provide them with great control over the shots, superb manooovrlbity and a very solid and stable response with a little bit of free power, but not too much. Skilled intermediate players should also consider the Yonex Percept 100D with denser 18×19 string pattern.
Buy The Yonex Percept Tennis Rackets on Amazon (International):
🎾 Yonex Vcore Pro 97 2021 (discount!) – https://amzn.to/3ZlHaGJ
🎾 Yonex Percept 97 – https://amzn.to/44PrKM5
🎾 Yonex Percept 97H – https://amzn.to/3Lrd13j
🎾 Yonex Percept 97D – https://amzn.to/45PwNgU
🎾 Yonex Percept all versions – https://amzn.to/3LmpTaM
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