Yonex Percept 97: Low Power, Big Control?

The whole point of Yonex’s VCORE Pro, now called Percept, racquet line is control and feel. The problem is, their VDM tech, or Vibration Dampening Mesh, which was first introduced in the 2019 VCORE Pro’s, is designed to filter out vibration. In general, I’ve found every implementation of VDM, whether it be in an EZONE or a VCORE to be too muted. Not enough feel, too dead, almost like the racquets didn’t have a soul. 

Percept 97 strung with Toroline Wasabi Red

Managing vibration is essentially one of the biggest problems in the entire racquet industry. In tennis, vibration is a double edged sword. Too much vibration and us tennis players start experiencing pain. We’ve all tried racquets like the Project 17 Pure Strike and described them as too stiff, too jarring or flat-out uncomfortable. Too little vibration and you don’t get enough feel transmitted through the stringbed, making it hard to diagnose your mistakes on court and, more importantly, robbing us of the orgasmic sensation of a perfectly struck ball.

Changes for 2023

Thankfully, one of the big changes with the Percept over the previous VCORE Pro’s is the removal of VDM, replacing it with Servo-Filter. The other major change is the softening of the throat and the stiffening of the hoop. Ideally, this should help retain the sweet, long dwell-time on the stringbed while increasing stability and forgiveness for off-centre shots.

On Court, this means… almost nothing to be honest. This is still very much a VCORE Pro and compared to other modern player’s frames, there’s still a huge amount of flex in the hoop. This hoop flex means it’s really easy to feel where you made contact with the ball on the stringbed and there’s a huge amount of ball pocketing. The general sensation feels like you are really grabbing and holding that ball on the stringbed with every shot.

I think the Servo-filter does lead to a cleaner, less muddied hitting feel as opposed to the previous generation but really, the feel is so similar that it's hard to be sure that this new tech is doing much.

The Specs Tell the Story

Let’s take a look at the specs on the Percept. Average swingweight of 315 unstrung and a 60RA. I’ve seen some concerns about bad QC on these Percept’s, but ours was bang on, 310g unstrung with a swingweight of 316.

Even though we are seeing a pretty low twistweight here, if you take a look at Tennis Warehouse’s data, this is the highest twistweight 97 310g we’ve seen. Ever. No wonder Yonex is touting improved ball-control due to the stiffer head. More mass at the 3 and 9 o’clock locations increases twistweight, meaning you get more effective hitting weight to combat those off-centre shots, which also “improves ball control by stabilizing the racquet face at impact.”

The problem is, I still felt that stability was pretty poor on impact. I only ever felt confident using the Percept against players who can’t hurt me with pace. Against those bigger hitters, I often felt more vulnerable than I care to admit.

Anytime you combine a low flex with a low swingweight, power and stability will be hard to find. Centering the ball on the racquet face is absolutely critical to generate any sort or pace or depth. This means your footspeed has to be fast enough to deal with whatever incoming ball speed your opponent has generated.

The Dichotomy of Power and Control

This is where I think we need to make an important distinction. In tennis, we often see power and control as opposing forces. I’ve always found this funny since in politics, the more powerful you are, the more things you control. However, I’ve come to find that even in tennis, power and control aren’t necessarily opposing forces.

I perceive control as how consistently and how predictably a racquet behaves on contact. To me, control means that you can change the direction of the ball without hesitation. You know the exact racquet face angle required to smack that backhand up the line because that racquet produces the same ball over and over. Control also means that you can reliably predict the height over the net and depth into the court you’ll hit on every shot.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the kind of control you feel with the Percept 97. Sure, you can swing out of your shoes without hitting the ball out, but that’s just a lack of power. That’s the lazy man’s definition of control. When you have a swingweight and flex that low, of course you’ll kill all the power. That lack of usable energy return means that the racquet has a tendency to get pushed around, where other racquets just don’t.

The Competition

The lack of power means that the Percept 97 is a pretty hard sell for me. How can you control your shot when your racquet quivers anytime someone gives you pace? The Percept 97 probably pockets the ball better than any 97 or 98 in the 310-315g weight class, but I think most players will get better playability out of other racquets. It just doesn’t inspire you to crush every shot in the same way the D or the H might, and it’s a far cry from Wawrinka’s actual racquet, the 95D. These Percepts simply need the extra weight to hit big, Wawrinka-like balls.

Enter the Babolat Pure Strike VS. Same head size. Same static weight. Similarly awesome ball pocketing. Both look great, in my opinion, but the Strike is just so much more playable. Sure, it doesn’t swing quite as fast, but there’s so much more easy power, natural power and there’s enough stability to properly redirect pace.

Final Recommendations

So who is the Percept 97 for?

Well, it’s hard to say. The racquet managed flat shots and spin equally well. It’s decent from almost all areas of the court, except for the areas like defense and service returns where it kind of sucks. At the end of the day, the Percept 97 made me feel more like Hubi Hurkacz playing Djokovic in a tiebreaker, as opposed to feeling like Stan the Man while playing Djokovic in a grand slam final.

I think if you are going to get anything out of this racquet, customization and adding weight to the hoop is an absolute must, so it’s a good thing that Yonex does make the H and D versions as I’ve always felt that they do a much better job of delivering that classic player’s experience with mass driven stability and power.