Yonex Ezone 98+ Tennis Racquet
About Bamako
This capital city stands on the Niger River, where older river settlements expanded under French colonial rule. Bamako became the capital of French Sudan in 1908 and remained the national capital after independence in 1960. Its growth has followed the river, the railway corridor toward Senegal, and the concentration of government offices on both banks.
THE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW
Shown in Blast Blue.
The Ezone 98+ is the extended-length version of the 98: 27.5 inches rather than 27, on the same 98 square inch Isometric head, at 305 grams unstrung and 323 grams strung.
Length is what a player reaches for when they want leverage rather than strength. The extra half inch raises the strike height on the serve and lengthens the arc the head travels, which adds pace without adding effort, and it extends reach on the stretch.
It also raises the swingweight — 334 here — and that figure is the frame speaking plainly: this is a racquet for somebody who already swings properly, not a shortcut for somebody who does not.
The beam is thin at 23.8 / 24.5 / 19.5 millimetres and the stiffness is 62 RA, so despite the length this is a control frame rather than a power one. Balance sits five points head light to keep the extra length from dragging through the swing.
Bamako runs long, hot afternoons through the dry season, when the harmattan carries dust off the Sahel and play is scheduled around the heat rather than through it — the kind of session in which leverage on the serve costs less than muscle does.
Specifications
| Head size | 98 sq in, Isometric |
|---|---|
| Length | 27.5 in |
| Unstrung weight | 305 g |
| Strung weight | 323 g |
| Balance | 33.2 cm, 5 points head light |
| Swingweight | 334 |
| Stiffness | 62 RA |
| Beam | 23.8 / 24.5 / 19.5 mm |
| String pattern | 16 x 19 |
| Composition | Minolon, 2G-NAMD Speed, HM Graphite |
| Grip sizes | G1 – G3 |
| Colour | Blast Blue |
| Level | Intermediate to advanced |
LET Yonex Ezone 98+ Tennis Racquet SHOW YOU Bamako
Racquet: You are all extremely fortunate that I agreed to come. I have been carried over the Grand Canal and I have been carried over the Thames, and I will tell you without flattery that the Niger beneath us is a more interesting river than either. In April it is sandbanks and channels you could very nearly walk across; then the rains arrive off the highlands, the river swells, the whole floodplain goes under, on schedule, every year, and the city arranges its life around that. This long low bridge opened in the 1960s, linking the centre to the southern bank, and it is named for the people killed in the uprising of March 1991. That name is not decoration and I will not be clever about it. Bamako's own emblem carries three crocodiles — the city's name is bound up with them. Crocodiles, on the crest. Naturally I approve. I too am much admired and best not handled.
Racquet: Up. Come along. From this sandstone escarpment one sees the entire city, which is the only way I care to see anything. This cliff and plateau are the northern wall of Bamako, and there are caves in it holding rock paintings — people stood on this exact ledge and made images of what they could see, long before anyone thought to invite me. And now the serious part, which I shall say straight. The great Sahel droughts of the 1970s and 1980s failed the rains for years on end. Herds died. Families moved south into this city, and the population below you grew enormously as a result. A great deal of what you are looking at is here because the sky stopped. Look at it properly, and do not photograph me while you do.
Racquet: Twin minarets, rising over the market district, and I have been photographed beside better — but not many. The current mosque dates from the 1970s, built with Saudi funding, replacing an earlier one on the same ground. Now: from around December comes the harmattan, a dry wind off the Sahara carrying so much dust that the sun goes pale, the horizon simply leaves, and flights are cancelled. A storm with no rain in it at all. The entire city turns the colour of chalk, minarets included, and I will admit — briefly, quietly, once — that the dust makes everything here look rather better than I do. I shall deny having said it, and you have no witnesses but each other.
Racquet: Ah. A building constructed to my own standard. Sudano-Sahelian, built of banco — earth and timber — with the beams projecting straight out of the walls, and those beams are not styling, they are permanent scaffolding. Because a mud building must be replastered by the community after every rainy season or the weather simply eats it, and so every year the entire surface is renewed by hand. Do you understand what I am telling you? This is a structure that requires an annual audience merely to continue existing. Constant devoted attention, or it dissolves. I have never felt so thoroughly understood by masonry. The collection inside is superb, and it sits in gardens beneath the Point G hill, so it has the better view as well. Insufferable. I adore it.
Jackson Phillips here. Owner of TTT. We are working hard every day to bring you the most useful product reviews in the business. Our goal is putting the right product in every hand. If you have time, shoot me an email at jacksonphillips@thetennistactician.com and tell me exactly what you think of your purchase. The more feedback we get, the better we can serve. Thank you for your patronage. And Burn, Laugh, and Learn.