That decision was made a month ago. At the time, the GlanZ offered me exactly what I needed. After a long break, my timing was off and I was not hitting the shuttle directly in the center of the string bed. Since the GlanZ is a forgiving racquet with a large sweet spot, it was perfectly suited to my game at the time.
Now, a month later, my game has progressed and it is time for a new frame. So last week, I tried a variety of Yonex frames including the Arcsaber Flash Boost, the Voltric Z-Force II and the Nanoray Z-Speed.
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The Flash Boost I tried was a 5U weight, which was far too light for me. The Nanoray Z-Speed was heavier (4U), but still wasn’t heavy enough. As with the GlanZ, my clears with both of these racquets were not deep enough to push my opponents back. Instead, they were dropping five to six feet inside the court, which was setting up too many successful smashes for my opponents.
My experience with the Voltric Z-Force II was the opposite. Instead of dropping inside of the court, I was actually hitting the shuttle out the back and sides of the court. (To be fair, the Z-Force II I played with was a 3U, which is quite heavy and which may be the reason I was hitting out. I did not try the 4U or the 5U.) The head heaviness of the frame coupled with the 3U weight was just too much for my stroke. This racquet is too powerful for me right now.
Much to my surprise, the Arcsaber 11 turned out to be perfectly suited to my game at this moment. While it is a 3U like the Z-Force II I was using, it is not head heavy. In fact, it is evenly balanced. Strung at the bottom of the tension range (for maximum power), my clears with this racquet were dropping about four inches inside the baseline whenever I hit them cleanly. My drops and net shots were exactly how I like them and the racquet was much better for smashing than the lighter GlanZ.
One of the major features of the Arcsaber series is versatility. I am playing in a drop-in group where some of the players are better than me and some are not as good. So every game is a little different. Sometimes I am on the attack; sometimes I am on the defensive. The Arcsaber series is designed for exactly this scenario. While the Voltric series is designed primarily for offence and the Nanoray series is designed primarily for defence, the Arcsaber series is balanced. It is a compromise that allows for a little bit of both.
Right now, given the state of my game, the Arcsaber 11 is the perfect frame for me.
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For a full list of racquets in this category, please check out our ONLINE RACQUET SELECTOR. You can sort by sport, gender, brand, size, weight, balance and more. |