Description
Yonex Astrox 99 Play summary
The Yonex Astrox 99 Play is a fun beginner racket. Especially, if you haven’t honed in your power-generating technique as it’ll enable you to hit the backline more easily and open up new avenues of gameplay to move your opponents around. And of course, you’ll be able to produce a powerful smash. But. It comes at a cost.
You’ll need to control the temptation of wanting to hit with full power unless you’re far back on the court or confident your next shot will finish the rally. Yonex Astrox 99 Play offers a one-sided game as it’s not the easiest racket to control during soft hits like net play or drive duels.
It feels heavy and slow but nothing out of the ordinary for what you’d expect with a super head heavy racket and I doubt you’ll notice unless you’ve tried higher-end rackets.
Who this racket is best for
The ideal player type for this racket is a beginner player who plays regularly and is working on improving their technique and timing. If that’s you and you find yourself struggling to hit backline to backline or just love power and want to win rallies with hard smashes, you’ll like this racket.
Who this racket isn’t suitable for
That being said, if you’re an entry-level player who hasn’t had much time on court and struggles to hit the shuttle in general, this racket might require too much technique.
If that’s you and you’re still intrigued, I’d only consider getting it if you’ve scheduled training with a coach so you know you’ll rapidly be improving your timing when hitting the shuttle. Otherwise, I just don’t think you’ll have fun with it.
On the other hand, if you’re a regular beginner player and often find yourself getting shoulder fatigue when playing from hitting a lot of overhead strokes, you might prefer a racket that’s even balanced or even head light instead. The same is true if you prefer to play the front court in doubles games.
Finally, if you’re an intermediate player, you’ll likely find this racket too flexible for your liking (check out the Astrox 99 Game instead).
Yonex Astrox 99 Play’s pros and cons
Pros
- Power, power, power
- Bigger sweet spot and help with control (to better manage all that power)
Cons
- Can feel slow
- Difficult to control around the net and on soft shots
Yonex Astrox 99 Play reviews
See how it felt to play with the Astrox 99 Play after ten hours on court in my review.
