ArcSaber 9 FL
Model ARC-9FL · Imogen Bankier
Price history
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ArcSaber 9 FL: the first 4U ArcSaber, Imogen Bankier’s racquet
The series’ first 4U
Yonex Japan’s page for the ArcSaber 9 FL gave it one headline claim: Toughlex in the frame made possible the ArcSaber series’ first 4U size and an attacking clear (タフレックス採用により、シリーズ初の4Uサイズと攻めのクリアを実現). Yonex’s international site called it a “super light 4U racquet with TOUGHLEX” for “aggressive, accurate shots”. It replaced the women-only ArcSaber 9 in October 2010 and stayed on Yonex’s lists for more than five years.
Toughlex in place of Light Feel Carbon
The 9 FL first appears on Yonex Japan’s racquet list of 5 October 2010, in the slot the ArcSaber 9 held on 21 September. Yonex Japan listed a high-modulus carbon frame with cup-stacked carbon nanotubes and Toughlex, a high-modulus carbon shaft and a new built-in T-joint, with the 10 mm longer frame, C.S.CAP, new grommet pattern, Isometric head shape, Solid Feel Core and Aero-Box frame. Yonex recommends 19–24 lb in 4U and 20–25 lb in 3U. Yonex Japan’s 2012 spec chart puts its balance on the even mark, and its 2013–14 matrix places it close to even. The page did not call it women-only, but its suitability chart rated it for advanced and intermediate women and left the men’s row blank.
Imogen Bankier
Yonex’s international site named Scotland’s Imogen Bankier as the 9 FL’s product ambassador in November 2012, and her Yonex player profile listed the ArcSaber 9FL as her racquet in November 2013. Yonex’s profile credits her with silver at the 2011 BWF World Championships at Wembley with England’s Chris Adcock; it does not say which racquet she used there. By September 2014 her profile listed the Voltric i-Force instead.
Crystal Pink, then a new design
Yonex sold the 9 FL in Crystal Pink at launch, in 4U (grips G5 and G6 in Japan, G4 to G6 abroad) and 3U (G5 in Japan, G4 and G5 abroad). Yonex Japan’s list flagged a new design for it from August 2014, and Yonex UK’s 2015 brochure gives the color as Pearl Pink in 4U G4; Yonex documents no other edition. It shares Yonex Japan’s dedicated grommet set AC416ACA with the ArcSaber 9, which had Light Feel Carbon, a Ruby finish and 3U/2U sizes under its own code, ARC9.
Five years on sale
Yonex Japan priced the 9 FL at ¥22,000 before tax (¥23,100 with tax) on its launch-period page of October 2010. It was on Yonex Japan’s list until December 2015 and gone by 2 January 2016, the same time as the ArcSaber 7. Yonex’s international ArcSaber list showed it beside the 11, 7, i-Slash and others until 9 February 2016 and dropped it the next day. Yonex Japan’s old-model groups record no production-end year for it. No verified sales are recorded yet.
Fakes and mix-ups
No counterfeit of this model is documented. Listings sometimes call it simply the ArcSaber 9; the 9 FL is the pink 4U or 3U frame, the 9 the Ruby 3U or 2U frame of 2008–2011.
The ArcSaber’s light branch
The 9 FL carried the ArcSaber 9’s women’s slot into a lighter class and opened 4U to the series in 2010. Lighter ArcSabers followed while it was still on sale: Yonex UK’s 2015 brochure lists it beside the 4U ArcSaber 6 FL (which has its own page) and the F-weight ArcSaber FB, which Yonex called the lightest racquet in its history. When the 9 FL and the 7 left Yonex’s lists in early 2016, the 11 and FB remained, with the ArcSaber 2i in Japan and the 6 FL, FD and Lite on the international list; the 4DX left at the same time.
Check what Yonex documented: Made in Japan, the item code ARC9FL, a pink finish (Crystal Pink at launch; Pearl Pink in Yonex UK’s 2015 brochure), and a 4U or 3U weight class (4U is 80–84.9 g, 3U 85–89.9 g in Yonex’s classes). Yonex rates the flex Medium and recommends 19–24 lb in 4U and 20–25 lb in 3U. A Ruby frame or a 2U label is the ArcSaber 9, not the 9 FL. Yonex published no description of the frame prints, so compare a candidate against photographs of a known original.
A light, Japan-made ArcSaber of 2010–2016 with one documented international player, the 9 FL is a practical frame more than a rarity. Buyers should confirm ARC9FL, the pink finish and the 4U or 3U size, ask which of the two pink designs a frame carries, and check the joint and frame of a light racquet for stringing stress.