Next-Gen star Abdullah Shelbayh has been seen training with a new racquet. But what is Abdullah Shelbayh’s racquet?
Shelbayh is the first player from Jordan to get an ATP ranking. He is a top 200 player now, has won three ITF titles and is predicted to have a bright future. How bright is hard to tell. We briefly wrote about Shelbayh’s racquet in the Next Gen racquets post.
He is a HEAD Speed player but has been seen training with a Yonex Ezone at the Rafa Nadal academy in Kuwait. Is it a Yonex Ezone 98 or a 100? Just looking at the footage, it is difficult to say. Most ATP players using Ezones use the 98, but then we have Casper Ruud rocking an Ezone 100 Plus.
Is Shelbayh just testing the Ezone? Well, he hasn’t announced anything official regarding sponsorships on social media, but on the other hand, the racquet is not blacked out either. So he is not hiding anything. When players are just testing before signing anything, they usually do well to black out the racquet, especially when it is across brands. But maybe Shelbayh’s contract with HEAD is about to expire and he is testing the waters with other brands?
If Shelbayh switches to Yonex, it would be another promising sign for the Japanese racquet brand. Time will tell!
A new Yonex Ezone?
There are rumors of a blacked-out Ezone coming out in time for the Australian Open. I assume it is not a new Ezone but just an updated cosmetic, similar to what they did with an older generation of VCORE called Galaxy Black.
The Ezone 2022 racquets play great and it is difficult to predict what a playability upgrade would be, but as soon as we learn more about this release, we will let you know here on Tennisnerd. Please consider subscribing to our newsletter and YouTube channel to get the latest info.
