Yonex

Yonex Co., Ltd. (ヨネックス株式会社) is a Japanese sports equipment manufacturing company. Yonex produces equipment and apparel for tennis, badminton, golf, and running.

Its range of products manufactured and commercialized includes equipment for badminton and tennis (rackets, shuttlecocks, balls, bags) and golf (clubs, bags). Yonex also produces athletic shoes and apparel including T-shirts, jackets, skirts, shorts, hoodies, leggings and hats.

History
The company was founded in 1946 by Minoru Yoneyama as a producer of wooden floats for fishing nets. The company was later forced out of this market because of the invention of plastic floats. This led to a commitment by Yoneyama to never again be left behind by technological advancements.

In 1957, Yoneyama began to make badminton racquets for other brands. By 1961, the first Yoneyama-branded racquet was introduced, and within another two years an export company was created for the worldwide distribution. After the company began to make aluminium badminton racquets in 1969, it found that the same technology could be applied to the tennis racket which the company introduced in 1971. The company began to experiment with graphite shafts for both types of rackets and found that these would also be useful for golf clubs.

In 1982 Yonex came out with the new oversized tennis racquet in the REX-series with the R-7 and R-10 racquets. At that time Martina Navratilova played with the R-7 and was very successful. One year later, the new series Rexking was developed with the R-22. Navratilova subsequently used the white RQ 180 widebody frame until the early 1990s.

Finding a growing market, the Yonex Corporation (a wholly owned subsidiary) was established in Torrance, California, US in July 1983. In 1992 Yonex introduced the widebody badminton racket, the "Isometric 500", a racquet that was much less "tear drop"-shaped than previous ones. The more "square" head gave it a much larger striking surface, which provides a larger "sweet spot" to hit the shuttle. It led other manufacturers to follow suit in "square-head" or isometric designs.

The parent company was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1994. Yonex describes itself as the world leader in golf, tennis and badminton equipment. Yonex provides clothing for national badminton associations around the world, such as the Malaysian Badminton Association, Badminton Scotland, Badminton England, Badminton Ireland, and Badminton Wales. Yonex has also been teaming up with OCBC (Orange County Badminton Club) since 2007 to host the annual U.S. Open Grand Prix Badminton Championships.

Yonex has become the dominant corporate player in badminton. Yonex sponsors the All England Open Badminton Championships and is a partner of the Badminton World Federation which organizes the World Championships. Upwards of 80% of competitive players use their racquets, as it is the preferred choice amongst professionals. Yonex is significant in the tennis and golf industries as well and is a major sponsor of professional athletes in all three sports.

Sponsorships
Yonex supplies official materials for the following leagues, athletes, teams, or associations:

Olympic Committees

 * Malaysia
 * Singapore
 * 🇰🇷 Korea
 * Indonesia
 * 🇹🇭 Thailand

Club teams

 * 🇯🇵 Avispa Fukuoka
 * 🇯🇵 Kashiwa Reysol
 * 🇯🇵 Tegevajaro Miyazaki
 * 🇯🇵 Tokyo Musashino United (Since the 2019-2020 season).

Male players (active)

 * 🇦🇷 Pedro Cachin
 * 🇦🇷 Sebastián Báez
 * 🇦🇷 Tomás Martín Etcheverry
 * 🇦🇺 Nick Kyrgios
 * 🇦🇺 Rinky Hijikata
 * 🇦🇹 Jurij Rodionov
 * 🇧🇪 Zizou Bergs
 * 🇨🇦 Denis Shapovalov
 * Alejandro Tabilo
 * 🇨🇿 Tomáš Macháč
 * 🇪🇸 Jaume Munar
 * 🇫🇮 Harri Heliövaara
 * 🇫🇷 Pierre-Hugues Herbert
 * 🇩🇪 Daniel Altmaier
 * Andy Murray
 * 🇭🇺 Márton Fucsovics
 * 🇮🇳 Sumit Nagal
 * 🇮🇹 Luca Nardi
 * 🇮🇹 Luciano Darderi
 * 🇯🇵 Yoshihito Nishioka
 * 🇰🇷 Chung Hyeon
 * 🇰🇷 Kwon Soon-woo
 * 🇱🇹 Ričardas Berankis
 * 🇲🇩 Radu Albot
 * 🇳🇴 Casper Ruud
 * 🇵🇱 Hubert Hurkacz
 * 🇵🇱 Kamil Majchrzak
 * Lloyd Harris
 * Stan Wawrinka
 * 🇺🇸 Ben Shelton
 * 🇺🇸 Brandon Nakashima
 * 🇺🇸 Denis Kudla
 * 🇺🇸 Frances Tiafoe
 * 🇺🇸 Marcos Giron
 * 🇺🇸 Tommy Paul

Female players (active)

 * 🇦🇷 María Lourdes Carlé
 * 🇦🇺 Daria Saville
 * 🇦🇺 Storm Hunter
 * 🇧🇪 Greet Minnen
 * 🇨🇦 Eugenie Bouchard
 * 🇨🇦 Gabriela Dabrowski
 * 🇨🇳 Wang Yafan
 * 🇨🇳 Wang Xiyu
 * 🇨🇳 Zhu Lin
 * Donna Vekić
 * 🇨🇿 Linda Nosková
 * 🇨🇿 Marie Bouzková
 * 🇨🇿 Markéta Vondroušová
 * Clara Tauson
 * 🇪🇸 Aliona Bolsova
 * 🇫🇷 Caroline Garcia
 * 🇫🇷 Fiona Ferro
 * 🇫🇷 Varvara Gracheva
 * 🇩🇪 Angelique Kerber
 * 🇩🇪 Laura Siegemund
 * 🇩🇪 Sabine Lisicki
 * 🇩🇪 Tamara Korpatsch
 * 🇩🇪 Tatjana Maria
 * 🇬🇧 Harriet Dart
 * 🇬🇧 Katie Swan
 * 🇭🇺 Anna Bondár
 * 🇭🇺 Tímea Babos
 * 🇮🇳 Ankita Raina
 * 🇮🇹 Jasmine Paolini
 * 🇯🇵 Ena Shibahara
 * 🇯🇵 Nao Hibino
 * 🇯🇵 Naomi Osaka
 * 🇰🇿 Elena Rybakina
 * 🇵🇱 Magda Linette
 * 🇷🇴 Ana Bogdan
 * 🇷🇴 Elena-Gabriela Ruse
 * 🇷🇴 Sorana Cîrstea
 * 🇷🇺 Alina Korneeva
 * 🇷🇺 Diana Shnaider
 * 🇷🇺 Kamilla Rakhimova
 * Olga Danilović
 * 🇸🇰 Rebecca Šramková
 * 🇸🇰 Viktória Hrunčáková
 * Kaja Juvan
 * Tamara Zidanšek
 * 🇸🇪 Mirjam Björklund
 * Belinda Bencic
 * Hsieh Su-wei
 * 🇺🇦 Anhelina Kalinina
 * 🇺🇦 Dayana Yastremska
 * 🇺🇸 Bernarda Pera
 * 🇺🇸 Emma Navarro
 * 🇺🇸 Jessica Pegula
 * 🇺🇸 Taylor Townsend

Former players

 * 🇧🇬 Magdalena Maleeva
 * 🇦🇷 David Nalbandian
 * 🇦🇺 Lleyton Hewitt
 * 🇧🇾 Natasha Zvereva
 * Marcelo Ríos
 * 🇨🇳 Zheng Jie
 * Iva Majoli
 * 🇨🇿 Nicole Vaidišová
 * Caroline Wozniacki
 * 🇪🇨 Andres Gomez
 * 🇪🇸 Sergi Bruguera
 * 🇪🇸 María José Martínez Sánchez
 * 🇪🇸 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
 * 🇫🇷 Mary Pierce
 * 🇩🇪 Annika Beck
 * 🇩🇪 Anke Huber
 * Richard Krajicek
 * 🇷🇺 Elena Dementieva
 * 🇷🇺 Maria Kirilenko
 * 🇷🇺 Anna Kournikova
 * 🇷🇸 Ana Ivanovic
 * Martina Hingis
 * 🇸🇰 Daniela Hantuchová
 * 🇸🇰 Magdaléna Rybáriková
 * 🇹🇭 Paradorn Srichaphan
 * 🇬🇧 Elena Baltacha
 * 🇺🇸 Martina Navratilova
 * 🇺🇸 Monica Seles

Badminton National Team Advisory

 * Malaysia
 * 🇨🇳 China
 * 🇰🇷 Korea
 * 🇯🇵 Japan
 * 🇹🇭 Thailand
 * 🇮🇳 India
 * Vietnam
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England
 * 🇫🇷 France
 * Chinese Taipei
 * 🇪🇸 Spain

Male players

 * 🇨🇳 Lin Dan
 * Chou Tien-chen
 * Lee Yang
 * Wang Chi-lin
 * Viktor Axelsen
 * Peter Gade
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Chris Adcock
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Marcus Ellis
 * 🇫🇷 Thom Gicquel
 * 🇩🇪 Mark Lamsfuß
 * 🇭🇰 Lee Cheuk Yiu
 * 🇭🇰 Tang Chun Man
 * 🇮🇳 B. Sai Praneeth
 * 🇮🇳 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy
 * 🇮🇳 Chirag Shetty
 * Fajar Alfian
 * Muhammad Rian Ardianto
 * Marcus Fernaldi Gideon
 * Taufik Hidayat
 * Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo
 * 🇯🇵 Hiroyuki Endo
 * 🇯🇵 Takeshi Kamura
 * 🇯🇵 Kento Momota
 * 🇯🇵 Keigo Sonoda
 * 🇯🇵 Kanta Tsuneyama
 * Lee Chong Wei
 * 🇰🇷 Choi Sol-gyu
 * 🇰🇷 Lee Yong-dae
 * 🇰🇷 Seo Seung-jae
 * 🇰🇷 Yoo Yeon-seong
 * 🇹🇭 Dechapol Puavaranukroh
 * 🇹🇭 Kantaphon Wangcharoen

Female players

 * 🇨🇦 Michelle Li
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Gabby Adcock
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Lauren Smith
 * 🇭🇰 Tse Ying Suet
 * 🇮🇳 Saina Nehwal
 * 🇯🇵 Yuki Fukushima
 * 🇯🇵 Arisa Higashino
 * 🇯🇵 Sayaka Hirota
 * 🇯🇵 Mayu Matsumoto
 * 🇯🇵 Nami Matsuyama
 * 🇯🇵 Wakana Nagahara
 * 🇯🇵 Aya Ohori
 * 🇯🇵 Chiharu Shida
 * 🇯🇵 Sayaka Takahashi
 * 🇯🇵 Akane Yamaguchi
 * 🇰🇷 An Se-young
 * 🇰🇷 Chae Yoo-jung
 * 🇰🇷 Chang Ye-na
 * 🇰🇷 Kim Ga-eun
 * 🇰🇷 Kim So-yeong
 * 🇰🇷 Kim Hye-rin
 * 🇰🇷 Kong Hee-yong
 * 🇰🇷 Lee So-hee
 * 🇰🇷 Shin Seung-chan
 * 🇰🇷 Sung Ji-hyun
 * 🇹🇭 Ratchanok Intanon
 * 🇹🇭 Busanan Ongbamrungphan
 * 🇹🇭 Sapsiree Taerattanachai
 * 🇺🇸 Beiwen Zhang

Controversy

 * Yonex signed a contract with the Chinese Taipei Badminton Association regarding national team jersey sponsorship in 2014. However, Yonex would often send players clothing and shoes to wear a few days before major tournaments, with the shoes unfit for players, as players had blisters and bruises from playing in them.


 * In May 2016, Yonex acted in a way that was ultra vires when criticizing the Taiwan national team players who had violated the dress code. Yonex sent official documents to the Chinese Taipei Badminton Association threatening to sue the national team head coaches if the Association did not provide a reasonable answer.


 * During the 2016 Summer Olympics, Yonex provided unfit shoes to non-contract badminton player Tai Tzu-ying. This forced Tai to wear other shoes made by her personal sponsor brand, Victor, without any logo. This event caused a controversy as the Chinese Taipei Badminton Association was going to punish Tai based on Yonex's pressing.


 * After the Tai incident, five other badminton players found themselves in the same situation and were punished. For example, Yonex was dissatisfied that badminton player Liao Kuan-hao used his personal sponsor racquet and as a result Yonex asked the Chinese Taipei Badminton Association to fine Liao and force him to be suspended for six months. In August 2016, the Chinese Taipei Badminton Association held a board meeting to resolve the situation. The meeting resulted in three key decisions: no punishment will be enforced on the “player”; to accept the resignation of Chairman Tsai Hung-peng for the controversy; to remove the word “Shoes” and “Racquets” from the contract with Yonex.