Yamaha's Hi-Flex Lite and Hi-Flex Super Lite

The excellent Hi-Flex Lite from Yamaha

Flexible rackets are my favourites to play with and Yamaha and Fox are the two brands that, for me,
offer excellent arm friendly play and also give good control.  The Yamaha Hi-Flex Lite is a personal favourite.  Despite the rather plain paintjob, this racket really sparkles on court.  Flexible frames need to be strung at a fairly high tension, in my view, for the frame to really bend and snap back when ploughing through the ball.  This one is not has high as I would like, but is sufficiently tight to really 'Feel The Difference', as Yamaha's rhetoric goes.  Unfortunately, the Superlite (see below) needs a restring because the tension is far too low for anything to flex except the strings themselves.  However, I fully expect it to perform well once this is done.  These rackets are light, evenly balanced sticks that make me wish Yamaha still made ones like them!

In need of a restring, but the Hi-Flex Super Lite is one I really look forward to using soon.

Yamaha EOS (Efficiency of Swingweight) and Yamaha EOS RZ

Yamaha EOS with weight distributed towards top of the frame to promote swingability

 The Yamaha EOS was this great company's final entry into the tennis racket market - a sad day indeed.  Having owned a few rackets I can say that Yamaha have some of the nicest constructed rackets I have come across - real build quality!  They look good too.  Such as shame they no longer appear on the tennis tour.  The word online is that the EOS led to a patent infraction with Wilson over their Hammer model, and in order to settle the dispute Yamaha agreed to quit racket production altogether.  If true, I can see why Wilson settled for this because they knew they were losing a major competitor in the market.

The EOS is a lightweight frame with nice flex, but certainly not as flexy as other sticks of theirs I have tried.  Importantly, these EOS frames can still hold their own against modern rackets, which is one of the reasons I love Yamaha so much.  Pictured above is the 100 sq. inch EOS model in sandal brown...and below is the EOS RZ, with the slightly larger 110 sq.inch frame and the much
 nicer paint job, don't you think?

a 1990s classic - powerful and light!

Yamaha Secret 04

the legendary Yamaha Secret 04

 Revered as one of Yamaha's best ever sticks!  Of course, beauty (and status) is very much in the eye of the beholder when it comes to tennis rackets as everyone's playing style and racket bias is different.  I bought this one knowing that it was a very stiff and heavy frame...not light and flexible like most of my other Yamaha frames, which I prefer.  But curiousity in a racket which seemed to be a seeming opposite to the other Yamaha's I had tried made be want to get it.  In terms of comparison, think more in the line of Wilson Pro-Staff for stiffness and plough through.  It is certainly a beast! Hard to find good examples too, so if you want a nice second hand one check the paint job carefully to make sure there are no chips.  Mine has several, but it hard to tell from the photos until you get up close and personal in real life!  Endorsed by Yannick Noah, this tells you how old it is.

strange signature style Mr Noah!