From Ezone to Percept (and back?)

I recently switched from my Yonex Ezone 98 (2022) to the Yonex Percept 100D. Here’s what I was looking for and what I have found so far.

Since it came out in 2023, the Yonex Percept 100D immediately caught my attention. Mostly for two reasons. Firstly, for its refreshingly new specifications, with an almost unique combination of a 100 squared inch head, the 18×19 string pattern and the 305 grams static weight; and secondly, as time went by and I noticed that none of the pros would endorse that frame, I became even more convinced that the Percept 100D could have been a good one  for me. It is a while now that I am basing my gear related decisions, from string tension and choice to racket testing, on the counter-intuitive assumptions that what’s good for the pros most likely is not good, if not even counterproductive, for me.

However, in the time I developed this train of thoughts, I was fully and merrily honeymooning with another Yonex, the Ezone 98 in its 7th edition from 2022. Moving to the Ezone was part of my gradual process to adopt a slightly more modern play style and game (prior to that I had been, very happily I must admit, playing with a super classic Donnay Pro One 97), in the attempt of adding some more pop and spin to my strokes, without sacrificing touch and, most important, comfort.

Unfortunately, I am rather sensitive to arm and shoulder issues, due to an injury that kept me away from tennis courts for a long time and from which I have never fully recovered. Hence, since I started playing tennis again, I have always put a lot of importance on comfort and arm protection when choosing my tennis gear. As a result, I have slowly restarted with a full bed of multifilament strings, while getting my body used to playing tennis again, until I switched to the Ezone, when I adopted a shaped poly-mains/multi-crosses hybrid.

And I was very happy with that set up frame-strings, therefore, despite my interest in the new Percept line, I gladly overlooked it. Until…

Well, until I no longer was happy with my setup frame/strings. The Ezone never gave me arm problems, which was a big plus, but, at some point last summer, I started having the feeling that the power aspect of the frame had taken over the control aspect. I increased string tension, but having a limited range of manoeuvre on that side, due to my arm/shoulder sensitivity, I soon found myself no longer taking full swings for the fear of sending the ball far long or wide. My wrist technique doesn’t tend towards the art of extreme spinning and the frame itself doesn’t help there. Therefore, when a friend casually showed up with a Percept 100D, my curiosity resurfaced and I realised that the time was now right to give it a go.

It was strung with a full bed of poly (22/22), but I decided to take the risk to test the comfort level. To my surprise, I could play four, maybe even five hours without the smallest pain. Major exam passed.

But surprises didn’t end with comfort…

With the caveat of a string setup certainly more inclined to spin and power than the one I had been using in my Ezone, though I was still shocked at the amount of spin and power I could easily generate with a very classic-looking boxed frame. The precision was there and that was kind of expected. In particular, the dwell time the frame could offer, it really gave me the impression of being able to stop the time, feel the ball sinking in the stringbed and, in the meantime, give me the window to locate the exact spot where I wanted my shot to land. Having tested for a couple of months, and immediately discarded, the old Yonex VCore Pro 97/310 back in the spring of 2023, I was starstruck at how different a frame this Percept 100D is.

It took me only a couple of hours to regain my confidence at taking full swings, gaining not only power compared to my Ezone, but also a tad of spin. Amazing! It really was love at first sight.

Thus, I decide to cut the full bed of poly and install my very own set up of shaped polys in the mains and multifilament in the crosses, to have a more direct comparison to the way my Ezone plays. While I could sense a loss in power, the free spin was still there and with a little help of my wrist I could still hit more spinny shots than with the Ezone. On the other hand, the multi would add some extra touch and feel which was definitely very welcome on a 100 squared inch head and for which I could tell the only pejorative difference in comparison to the Ezone 98.

Speaking of head sizes. I found the combination of the bigger racket head and the extra strings making the racket a lethal weapon when stretched out wide on the defensive, during which I could produce laser-like passing sliced longline backhands and chopped crossed forehands that allowed me to turn the momentum of the rally in my favour (when not producing a discombobulating winner altogether!). In similar situations, my experience is that the Ezone would help me with putting depth to my defensive shots, but the ball immediately springs too high, offering my attacking opponent an easier shot at the net. So, again, advantage Percept.

In addition to and especially in combination with the aspect above, I found the Percept way more stable, which represents a big bonus for my one-handed backhand (incidentally also my better shot and therefore a double bonus). On the Ezone, I had found extremely beneficial to add 1.5 grams at each 2 and 10 o’clock and still, returning blocked backhands would prove tricky at times. On the other hand, with no customisation at all, with the Percept I felt free to take full swing backhand returns down the line, turning the momentum of the point to my advantage or going right for the winner.

Speaking of customisation, I am curious to test how the Percept would play with 1 or 2 grams at 12 o’clock, considering that, at least on paper, it comes with a relatively low swingweight (I haven’t tested the specifics of mine yet) and it does feel, also at the net, very, very manoeuvrable. 

Therefore, deeply reassured and convinced by all the training hours put to test the Percept, the time comes to take it into match situations. Say it’s all mental, call it the honeymoon factor, say what you want, but I played my best tennis in a long time, taking out players with better ranking and whom I had never beaten before. Sure, that doesn’t mean that I never lost again since (actually, as I wrote in my article on my debut in the ITF Masters Tour, I was nicely rolled over a couple of times), but the general feeling is that the Percept 100D allowed me to get more in what I believe are the most relevant aspects of the game, control, power and spin, losing possibly a little bit of touch, balanced though by an increased forgiveness and without giving up any of the comfort that the Ezone 98 could already offer, is still very much there after more than four months of intense use. And, perhaps most poignant of all, all these feelings gave me back confidence in my strokes.

In short, so far, so very good and I do not envisage going back to my old Ezone 98 (until I test the new one, maybe…). I very much like how the Percept allows me to blend my game style of taking the ball early, using my opponent’s power to drive him in the open space left in the court and though, at the same time, I get that little extra help when defending, thanks to a bigger racket head and sweet-spot that allows me to lift and spin the ball when overstretched. My overall impression is that the Ezone, while helping me a lot defensively, ended up taming my offensive game, due to its combination of free power and slightly higher launch angle that my technique, not oriented to spin the ball enough for this frame, was not able to modulate.

The only real issue I am currently struggling with is the short lifespan of my string setup. In fact, the shaped poly cut into the multi far too quickly and playability is down to a mere (for me of course) 6/7 hours. That puts me, once more, back on the search for a similar playability outcome, yet with more durability.

But this will be the topic for another article!