Professional players and their racquets

Noticed Praveen Jordan using the Z-Force II in the final of the recent Malaysian GPG. He only had two of them though - strings broke on both of them in the first game I think, and he was subsequently forced to use his Z-Force I hehe.
 
What is the racket that Hiroyuki Endo (Japanese MD with Kenichi Hayakawa) using right now? Is it ZF II? And what U? 3U or 4U?

Thank you
 
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Viktor Axelsen: AdiPower Pro (88g, head heavy, stiff)
Shintaro Ikeda: AdiPower Pro (88g, head heavy, stiff)
Wong Wing Ki: Precision Pro (85g, even, medium)
Nozomi Okuhare: AdiZero Pro (80g, head heavy, medium)

Adidas AdiPower series also include the AdiPower Force, which is 92g, really head heavy and stiff - the racquet that most closely matches the specs of what Lin Dan has been playing I recon. So my guess is that once he's officially an Adidas player, he'll be yielding an "AdiPower Force 2" racquet, or maybe even am "AdiPower Force Lin Dan Edition".

Translated to "Yonex Terms", the Adidas racquet series are:
AdiPower = Voltric
AdiZero = NanoRay
Precision = ArcSaber
Switch = Other...

I've read that Adidas racquets are made from Japanese produced graphite/carbon, and that the company relies on experienced Japanese badminton racket engineers - all the facts suggests to me that they have poached some Yonex employees and are closely aligning their ranges and products to that of Yonex (it makes sense to learn from and mimic the company that currently sits in the market position you would aspire to).

Adidas' goals (5 years from now I think) are to become the number one racquet "by reputation" and the number three "by sales". I'd imagine they were aiming at getting the best players in the world to use their products and create a hype/buzz around it's name (using their world wide marketing muscle), but not be able to beat the sales figures of Yonex and LiNing given their position in the global and Chinese markets currently.

They do seem to have an interesting line-up of players: Young upcoming talents - the champions of tomorrow - and now the single most attractive player from a PR perspective, Lin Dan.

It will be interesting to follow Adidas ventures into badminton. Hopefully a commitment from such an established company will even help badminton itself.
 
I wont buy into LD going with adidas until its irrefutably proven, however Axelsen hasnt been using the adipower in a while, choosing the duoforce instead (which was mentioned only a couple posts ago!).
adidas' start to the market here is pretty surprising to me as their prices are ranging from high to insane (159€ for a bag, 35€ for a 15m reel of towel grip? Seriously?).
 
Has there been a Chinese player in the history of Chinese players actually 'defect' to another brand, let alone a German one? I still can't see it happening. I mean, it would be awesome for Adidas because I reckon they'd literally double their market penetration overnight, but.....geez.
 
Steve the noob said:
Viktor Axelson now uses the Duoforce. At least recently he hasn't been seen with the APP
Click to expand...

Yeah true, from pictures of the Swiss Open final I can see that he played a DuoForce painted racket when he won - DuoForce being a bit more evenly balanced, but otherwise not too far from the Pro.

He did however play the Pro model (paint at least) throughout 2013 at World Champs and Hong Kong Open (the two tournaments I saw him play).

I suppose it makes sense for him to opt for a bit more balanced racquet, given the changes he's been working on in his game. He's clearly strong in the attacking part of his game, with a steep smash, but after his initial success at the seniors tour, his opponents started to "play down on him" more often, not giving any openings, and playing a lot towards his feet, where his movement and reactions were a bit stiff and slow.

It'll be fun to see how he proceeds now. And also what kind of equipment he'll be using - if he'll stick to the DuoForce now after the success in Swiss Open, or if he'll revert to the more "aggressive" game and thus the Pro model.

Thanks for the correction, and sorry for the err.
 
It seems the change from Pro to DuoForce happened after Korea/Malaysia 2014 (Pro) but before European Team Champs and All England (both DuoForce).

A fun fact: You can't find Adidas badminton racquets on the Danish adidas site (or anything badminton at all, except a pair of multipurpose indoor shoes). The racquets are sold in Danish internet badminton shops though.
 
Nah, imho he's just using the Duoforce for promotional purposes. When he gets back to the major tourneys I'm sure he'll switch back to APP.
 
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