() is a Japanese sports equipment manufacturing company. Yonex produces equipment and apparel for tennis, badminton, golf, and running. Its range of products manufactured and commercialised includes equipment for badminton and tennis ( rackets,

shuttlecock A shuttlecock (also called a birdie or shuttle) is a high-drag projectile used in the sport of badminton. It has an open conical shape formed by feathers or plastic (or a synthetic alternative) embedded into a rounded cork (or rubber) base. T ...

s, balls, bags) and golf (

clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

, bags). Yonex also produces athletic shoes and

apparel Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...

including t-shirts,

jacket A jacket is a garment for the upper body, usually extending below the hips. A jacket typically has sleeves, and fastens in the front or slightly on the side. A jacket is generally lighter, tighter-fitting, and less insulating than a coat, which ...

s, skirts, shorts, hoodies, leggings and hats.

History

The company was founded in 1946 by

Minoru Yoneyama was a Japanese businessman who founded the sports-equipment company Yonex, one of the world's top producers of tennis and badminton rackets as well as golf clubs. He was awarded the President's Medal by the Badminton World Federation in 2015. ...

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 A racket, or racquet, is a sports implement used for striking a ball or shuttlecock in games such as squash, tennis, racquetball, badminton and padel. In the strictest sense a racket consists of a handled frame with an open hoop across which a ...

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 Martina Navratilova ( cs, Martina Navrátilová ; ; born October 18, 1956) is a Czech–American, former professional tennis player. Widely considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Navratilova won 18 major singles titles, 31 maj ...

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. Yonex IFB 2013 - Quarterfinal - Tian Qing - Zhao Yunlei vs Misaki Matsutomo - Ayaka Takahashi 12

Yonex IFB 2013 - Quarterfinal - Tian Qing - Zhao Yunlei vs Misaki Matsutomo - Ayaka Takahashi 12

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 The term ''isometric'' comes from the Greek for "having equal measurement". isometric may mean: * Cubic crystal system, also called isometric crystal system * Isometre, a rhythmic technique in music. * "Isometric (Intro)", a song by Madeon from ...

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 The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the international governing body for the sport of badminton recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation (IBF) with nine member ...

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

Football

Club teams

* Avispa Fukuoka * Kashiwa Reysol *

Tegevajaro Miyazaki is a Japanese Association football, football club based in Miyazaki, Miyazaki, Miyazaki, the capital city of Miyazaki Prefecture. They play in the J3 League. History Born in 1965 as ''Kadokawa Club'', the club have twice changed their name; f ...

* Tokyo Musashino United (Since the 2019-2020 season).

Tennis

Male players (active)

Pedro Cachín Pedro Cachín (; born 12 April 1995 in Bell Ville) is an Argentine professional tennis player. Cachín has a career high ATP singles ranking of world No. 54 achieved on 14 November 2022. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of world No ...

* Sebastián Báez *

Nick Kyrgios Nicholas Hilmy Kyrgios ( ; born 27 April 1995) is an Australian professional tennis player. In singles, Kyrgios' career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 13 was achieved on 24 October 2016. He has won seven ATP Tour singles titles, includin ...

* Thanasi Kokkinakis * Jurij Rodionov * Denis Shapovalov * Alejandro Tabilo * Jaume Munar * Henri Kontinen * Pierre-Hugues Herbert * Daniel Altmaier * Márton Fucsovics * Yoshihito Nishioka * Alexander Bublik * Chung Hyeon * Ričardas Berankis * Radu Albot * Tim van Rijthoven * Casper Ruud * Hubert Hurkacz * Kamil Majchrzak * Lloyd Harris *

Stan Wawrinka Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014. His career highlight ...

* Denis Kudla * Frances Tiafoe * Marcos Giron * Steve Johnson

Female players (active)

Daria Saville Daria Saville (née Gavrilova, born 5 March 1994) is an Australian professional tennis player. She represented Russia until 2015, before emigrating to Australia. She competed under her maiden name until her marriage to Luke Saville in 20 ...

Storm Sanders Storm Hunter (née Sanders; born 11 August 1994) is an Australian professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 119, on 18 October 2021, and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 8, on 24 October 2022. ...

* Eugenie Bouchard * Wang Yafan * Wang Xiyu * Zhu Lin * Donna Vekić * Linda Nosková *

Marie Bouzková Marie Bouzková (, born 21 July 1998) is a Czech professional tennis player. She attained her career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 26 on 31 October 2022. On 9 May 2022, she peaked at No. 24 in the WTA doubles rankings. So far, she has won one ...

* Markéta Vondroušová * Clara Tauson * Aliona Bolsova * Caroline Garcia * Fiona Ferro * Angelique Kerber * Laura Siegemund *

Sabine Lisicki Sabine Katharina Lisicki (; born 22 September 1989) is a German professional tennis player. Lisicki turned professional in 2006, and her breakthrough came in 2009 when she reached the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon Championships, and also won h ...

Tamara Korpatsch Tamara Korpatsch (born 12 May 1995) is a German tennis player. She has a career-high singles WTA ranking of No. 74, achieved on 28 November 2022, and doubles ranking of No. 291, achieved on 7 March 2022. She has won one singles title on WTA Chall ...

* Tatjana Maria * Harriet Dart * Katie Swan *

Anna Bondár Anna Bondár (born 27 May 1997) is a Hungarian tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of No. 50 in singles, achieved on 18 July 2022, and world No. 47 in doubles, achieved on 24 October 2022. She is the current No. 1 Hungarian WTA player ...

* Panna Udvardy * Tímea Babos *

Ankita Raina Ankita Ravinderkrishan Raina (born 11 January 1993) is an Indian professional tennis player. Since 2013, she has regularly been the Indian number one in both singles and doubles. Raina has won one title on the WTA Tour and one at WTA 125 tourn ...

Camila Giorgi Camila Giorgi (; born 30 December 1991) is an Italian professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 26, achieved on 22 October 2018. She is the current Italian No. 2, after Martina Trevisan. After winning her fi ...

Jasmine Paolini Jasmine Paolini (; born 4 January 1996) is an Italian tennis player. She reached career-high WTA rankings of No. 44 in singles and 122 in doubles. Paolini has won one singles title (at the 2021 Slovenian Open) and one doubles title on the WTA To ...

* Ena Shibahara *

Nao Hibino is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as No. 56 in singles and No. 43 in doubles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Hibino has won two singles and two doubles titles on the WTA Tour. Along with that, she ...

* Naomi Osaka * Elena Rybakina * Anastasija Sevastova * Ana Bogdan *

Elena-Gabriela Ruse Elena-Gabriela Ruse (born 6 November 1997) is a Romanian tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of 51 in singles and 55 in doubles. She won her maiden WTA Tour singles title at the 2021 Hamburg European Open. She has also won six singl ...

* Irina Bara * Sorana Cîrstea * Kamilla Rakhimova *

Varvara Gracheva Varvara Andreyevna Gracheva ( rus, Варвара Андреевна Грачёва, , vɐrˈvarə ɡrɐˈtɕɵvə, Ru-Varvara Gracheva.ogg; born 2 August 2000) is a Russian tennis player. Gracheva has a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. ...

* Vitalia Diatchenko * Olga Danilović * Viktória Kužmová * Kaja Juvan * Tamara Zidanšek * Mirjam Björklund * Belinda Bencic * Stefanie Vögele * Viktorija Golubic * Hsieh Su-wei *

Anhelina Kalinina Anhelina Serhiyivna Kalinina ( uk, Ангеліна Сергіївна Калініна ; born 7 February 1997) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. Kalinina has won 15 singles titles and three doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 27 June ...

* Dayana Yastremska * Asia Muhammad * CoCo Vandeweghe *

Jessica Pegula Jessica Pegula (born February 24, 1994) is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA rankings in singles and doubles of world No. 3, both achieved on October 24, 2022. She has won two singles titles and five doubles title ...

Former players

Magdalena Maleeva Magdalena Georgieva Maleeva ( bg, Магдалена Георгиева Малеева, ; born 1 April 1975) is a Bulgarian former professional tennis player. She played on the WTA Tour competing in singles and doubles, from April 1989 to Octo ...

* David Nalbandian * Lleyton Hewitt * Natasha Zvereva * Marcelo Ríos * Zheng Jie *

Iva Majoli Iva Majoli-Marić (born 12 August 1977) is a former professional tennis player from Croatia who played for both Yugoslavia and Croatia. She upset Martina Hingis to win the women's singles title at the French Open in 1997. Majoli also won seven ot ...

* Nicole Vaidišová * Caroline Wozniacki *

Andres Gomez Andres or Andrés may refer to: *Andres, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Will County, Illinois, US *Andres, Pas-de-Calais, a commune in Pas-de-Calais, France *Andres (name) *Hurricane Andres * "Andres" (song), a 1994 song by L7 See also ...

* Sergi Bruguera * María José Martínez Sánchez * Arantxa Sánchez Vicario * Mary Pierce * Annika Beck * Anke Huber *

Richard Krajicek Richard Peter Stanislav Krajicek ( cz, Krajíček; born 6 December 1971) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. In 1996, he won the men's singles title at Wimbledon, and remains the only Dutch player to have won a major singles title. In ...

* Elena Dementieva *

Maria Kirilenko Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko ( rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Кириле́нко, p=mɐˈrʲijə kʲɪrʲɪˈlʲɛnkə ; born 25 January 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player. A junior Grand Slam champion at the 2002 US Open a ...

* Anna Kournikova *

Ana Ivanovic Ana Schweinsteiger ( sr, Ана Швајнштајгер / ''Ana Švajnštajger''; born 6 November 1987), professionally known by her birth name Ana Ivanovic (Ана Ивановић / ''Ana Ivanović'', ), is a Serbian former world No. 1 tenn ...

Martina Hingis Martina Hingis (, sk, Martina Hingisová; 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. Hingis is the first Swiss player, male or female, to win a major title and attain a world No. 1 ranking. She spent a total of 209 weeks a ...

* Daniela Hantuchová * Magdaléna Rybáriková *

Paradorn Srichaphan Paradorn Srichaphan ( th, ภราดร ศรีชาพันธุ์; ; ; born 14 June 1979) is a retired professional tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or betw ...

* Elena Baltacha *

* Monica Seles

Badminton Advisory Staff

Male players

* Lin Dan *

Chou Tien-chen Chou Tien-chen (Chinese: 周天成; born 8 January 1990) is a Taiwanese badminton player. He became the first local shuttler in 17 years to win the men's singles title of the Chinese Taipei Open in 2016 since Indonesian-born Fung Permadi won i ...

* Lee Yang * Wang Chi-lin * Viktor Axelsen * Peter Gade *

Chris Adcock Christopher Thomas Adcock (born 27 April 1989) is a retired English badminton player. Adcock is currently sponsored by Yonex and YC Sports and plays for the University of Nottingham-based NBL team. He entered the National team in 2006, and late ...

* Marcus Ellis *

Thom Gicquel Thom Mark Gicquel (born 12 January 1999) is a French badminton player. Born in Tours, he started playing badminton at aged six in his parents club. Gicquel made his debut in the international senior tournament at the 2015 Riga International in La ...

* Mark Lamsfuß * Lee Cheuk Yiu * Tang Chun Man *

B. Sai Praneeth Bhamidipati Sai Praneeth (born 10 August 1992) is an Indian badminton player. He became the first Indian male shuttler in 36 years to win a bronze medal in the BWF World Championships in 2019 after Prakash Padukone in 1983. Sai Praneeth was ho ...

* Satwiksairaj Rankireddy * Chirag Shetty * Fajar Alfian *

Muhammad Rian Ardianto Muhammad Rian Ardianto (born 13 February 1996) is an Indonesian badminton player. Born in Bantul, Yogyakarta SR, Ardianto plays for the Jaya Raya Jakarta club at national events. He won the men's doubles silver medal at the 2018 Asian Games, th ...

Marcus Fernaldi Gideon Marcus Fernaldi Gideon (born 9 March 1991) is an Indonesian badminton player who was formerly ranked world No. 1 in the men's doubles by the Badminton World Federation. He plays for PB Jaya Raya, and has joined the club since June 2018. He won th ...

* Taufik Hidayat * Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo * Hiroyuki Endo *

Takeshi Kamura is a Japanese badminton player. He was selected to join the national team in 2013 and retired in 2021. Kamura was part of the national team that won the 2014 Thomas Cup. He captured his first Superseries title at the 2016 Hong Kong Open, and re ...

* Kento Momota *

Keigo Sonoda is a Japanese badminton player. He affiliated with the YKK AP Yatsushiro, before joining the Tonami team in 2010. Sonoda was part of the national team that won the 2014 Thomas Cup. He captured his first Superseries title at the 2016 Hong Kong O ...

* 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 Michelle Li (born November 3, 1991) is a Canadian badminton player from Markham, Ontario. Li is the 2014 Commonwealth Games champion and the first Canadian to win an individual gold medal in women's singles badminton at the Commonwealth Games. S ...

* Gabby Adcock * Lauren Smith * Tse Ying Suet * Saina Nehwal * Yuki Fukushima * Arisa Higashino * Sayaka Hirota * Mayu Matsumoto * Nami Matsuyama * Wakana Nagahara *

Aya Ohori is a Japanese badminton player from Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture Fukushima Prefecture (; ja, 福島県, Fukushima-ken, ) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,8 ...

Chiharu Shida is a Japanese badminton player from the Saishunkan team. She was the bronze medalists at the Asian and World Junior Championships in 2014 and 2015. Shida won her first international title at the 2016 Vietnam International, and claimed her first ...

* Sayaka Takahashi *

Akane Yamaguchi is a Japanese badminton player who is the reigning two-time World Champion, winning gold in the women's singles at the 2021 and 2022 World Championships. She was on the winning Japanese team at the Asian Junior Championships in 2012 and won var ...

An Se-young An Se-young (; born 5 February 2002) is a South Korean badminton player from Gwangju, who was awarded as 2019 Most Promising Player of the Year by the BWF. In 2018, An was selected to join the national team and became the first junior high sc ...

Chae Yoo-jung Chae Yoo-jung (, Hanja: 蔡侑玎; born 9 May 1995) is a South Korean badminton player. She is the daughter of former singles player Kim Bok-sun. Chae was a part of the Korean national team that won the world mixed team championships at the 2 ...

* Chang Ye-na *

Kim Ga-eun Kim Ga-eun (born January 8, 1989) is a South Korean actress. Filmography Television series Web series Film Awards and nominations References External links * * 1989 births Living people South Korean television actresses ...

* Kim So-yeong *

Kim Hye-rin Kim Hye-rin (Hangul: 김혜린; born 19 May 1995) is a South Korean badminton player. In 2013, she won the mixed doubles title at the Romanian International tournament partnered with Choi Sol-gyu. In 2017, she won the silver medal at the Asia ...

* Kong Hee-yong *

Lee So-hee Lee So-hee (Hangul: 이소희; ; born 14 June 1994) is a South Korean badminton player. She won the women's doubles title at the 2017 All England Open tournament. She also helped the Korean national team to win the world team championships a ...

Shin Seung-chan Shin Seung-chan (신승찬; ; born 6 December 1994) is a South Korean doubles specialist badminton player. She won the women's doubles bronze medals at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and 2014 BWF World Championships. Shin clinched the women's and mi ...

Sung Ji-hyun Sung Ji-hyun (; born 29 July 1991) is a South Korean badminton player from Seoul. She is an Asian Championship gold medalist, a two-time Summer Universiade gold medalist, and a World Championship bronze medalist. She was also part of South Kore ...

* Ratchanok Intanon *

Busanan Ongbamrungphan Busanan Ongbamrungphan (Thai: บุศนันท์ อึ๊งบำรุงพันธ์; born 22 March 1996) is a Thai badminton player who specializes in singles. She competed at the 2014 and 2018 Asian Games as well as the 2020 Summe ...

* Sapsiree Taerattanachai * Beiwen Zhang

Controversy

Yonex signed a contract with 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 on from playing. In May 2016, Yonex was ultra vires to criticize the Taiwan national team players who have 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 could not provide a reasonable answer. During the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, 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 due to Chinese Taipei Badminton Association is going to punish Tai based on Yonex's pressing. After Tai's incident outbreak, there are other five badminton players caught in the same situation and were punished. For example, Yonex was dissatisfied that badminton player Liao Kuan-Hao used his personal sponsor bat and then Yonex was ultra vires to ask Chinese Taipei Badminton Association to fine Liao and force him 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 3 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.

References

External links

* {{authority control Sportswear brands Japanese brands Manufacturing companies based in Tokyo Sporting goods manufacturers of Japan Badminton equipment manufacturers Golf equipment manufacturers Tennis equipment manufacturers Cycle manufacturers of Japan Manufacturing companies established in 1946 1946 establishments in Japan Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange