He is usually the face of the VCORE, but what is Shapovalov’s new racquet that he has been testing during the Davis Cup tie against Finland.
Many tennis nerds are already aware that “Shapo” has been flip-flopping between Ezones and his old VCORE 95 (maybe he has also tested newer VCORE 95s or even a 98). But in his latest matches, he has been seen with the Ezone 98 again, but this time in an unreleased 18/20 string pattern.
There is no 18/20 for the Ezone and I have never seen a pro use one before. Will we see this pattern available to consumers when next year’s batch of Yonex Ezone racquets come out? Possibly.
The string pattern of the Ezone 98 is already quite dense for a power-oriented 98 sq inch racquet, so this string pattern change seems kind of unnecessary. But racquets are personal and what might seem weird to us, might work perfectly fine for another player. That is why you cannot really copy specs from other players, you need to find your own.
We will see if Denis Shapovalov’s new racquet, the Ezone 98 18/20 remains by his side for the rest of the season or is shelved later on if some tough losses crop up on his scoresheet.
De Minaur seen with a VCORE
I am currently testing the Yonex VCORE 98 Tour, (first impressions up for patrons and members on Monday) and that racquet has Denis’ face on the racquet cover, so I’m sure Yonex is not thrilled by all this back-and-forth. As most tennis nerds know, it’s rarely the racquet’s fault, but it can have an impact, of course.
Talking about Yonex VCORE, Alex De Minaur was seen holding this model during a practice before Australia’s tie against Czechia. However, when I posted about this on our Instagram, my friend Ben (from Tennis101) reached out and said it was actually Kokkinakis racquet. So false alarm there, Alex De Minaur’s racquet remains the Steam 99 pro stock.
Have you spotted any other pro player racquet switches or news? Let me know in the comments.
