Astrox 88 D Pro (2nd Gen)
Model AX-88DPRO-2G · Kunlavut Vitidsarn, Soh Wooi Yik, Marcus Gideon
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Astrox 88 D Pro (2nd Gen): the doubles racquet that won Kunlavut a singles world title
A doubles racquet, a singles world title
Yonex built the 88 D for the back-court player in a doubles pair, yet the second-generation 88 D Pro’s biggest title came in men’s singles. At the 2023 World Championships in Copenhagen, Kunlavut Vitidsarn came back from a game down to beat Kodai Naraoka on August 27 in a final Yonex Japan timed at 1 hour 49 minutes, and Yonex’s equipment list names his racquet as the Astrox 88 D Pro; Naraoka played the Astrox 99 Pro. Yonex noted that Kunlavut had brought Thailand its first men’s singles world gold. He was already on the 88 D Pro in Yonex’s report on the Indonesian tournaments of late 2021, used it a year before Copenhagen as he lost the 2022 final in Tokyo to Viktor Axelsen, and in January 2023 beat Axelsen in three games for the India Open title. The 2018 first-generation 88 D, with its own singles story from Kento Momota, has its own page, as does the 2024 third generation.
Built for the back court
Yonex announced the Pro on January 7, 2021, for worldwide release in late March, as the reintroduction of its “popular doubles-concept racquets.” Yonex Japan aimed the Pro at intermediate-to-advanced players and the Game at intermediate ones, and priced the Japan-made Pro at ¥26,000 before tax; Yonex USA’s 2021 catalog listed it at $270. It shares the 88 S Pro’s construction: Volume Cut Resin through the frame, which Yonex said allowed finer weight distribution and, for the first time, large-diameter string holes in the frame sides, with a squarer Isometric head, thicker frame sides, a Namd shaft, an Extra Slim Shaft and the Energy Boost Cap Plus. The D differs in length and tuning. It is 10 mm longer than standard, against 5 mm for the S, and Yonex said the D models would balance repulsion and shuttle hold for maximum power. Yonex rates it stiff, its Japanese balance gauge sits further toward head-heavy than the 88 S Pro’s, and Yonex recommends 20–28 lb for the 4U and 21–29 lb for the 3U. (Yonex’s global launch table misprints the release as “Late March 2020.”)
Gideon, Soh and two All England titles
Keigo Sonoda is the first player Yonex lists on it, in the March 2021 All England final, where Yonex said he and Takeshi Kamura debuted the new Pros. Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, one of the launch users Yonex named, is on it at the October 2021 Thomas Cup finals, and a month later he and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, on the 88 S Pro, won their third straight Indonesia Open. At the 2022 World Championships Soh Wooi Yik used it as he and Aaron Chia beat Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan 21–19, 21–14 to become Malaysia’s first world champions, while Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong, both on the 88 D Pro, lost the women’s doubles final. In October 2022 Muhammad Rian Ardianto beat Gideon’s pair with it in the Denmark Open final, an 88 D Pro on each side. The 2023 All England brought two more titles: Ardianto, on the 88 D Pro, won the men’s doubles with Fajar Alfian, who played the Astrox 77 Pro, and Kim and Kong beat Lee So-hee and Baek Ha-na 21–5, 21–12.
Camel Gold, and one name for three racquets
Camel Gold was the only standard finish; Yonex said the 88 D’s scheme was meant to look like fighting spirit flaring up. The 88 D Game (AX88D-G), which has its own page, came in the same Camel Gold but is made in Taiwan, with a Nanomesh Neo shaft, medium flex and an open price in Japan, and Yonex USA listed a stiff 88 D Tour as a special order in 4U only. The twin 88 S Pro is Emerald Blue and 5 mm longer. Unlike the S Pro, the D Pro has no black shop-association version: the Japan Badminton Association’s February 2022 list records an AX88S-PBP but no D Pro counterpart. The 2018 first generation (AX88D) was Ruby Red, then Off-White/Red, with Nanometric in the frame. The 2024 third generation (3AX88D-P) is Black/Silver, with CFR in the frame, 2G-Namd Flex Force in the shaft, a Power-Assist Bumper and extra weight on the frame sides.
Sold new into autumn 2023
It was a standard production model, sold worldwide from late March 2021, never a limited or regional edition. Yonex Japan was still selling it in August 2023, and Yonex’s global store showed it in stock in September 2023. Yonex published no production-end notice: its Japanese release of February 22, 2024 introduced the third generation for March 22, and Yonex USA’s 2024 catalog carries only third-generation item codes. Its interest for collectors is the 2022–23 record: a men’s doubles world title, a men’s singles world title, and the men’s and women’s doubles at the 2023 All England. That record belongs to the model, not to any particular frame. No verified sales are recorded yet.
Why listings mix up generations
No counterfeit specific to this generation is documented, although Yonex says counterfeits are hard to tell from genuine racquets by eye. The more common problem is identity. Three generations carry the 88 D name, and the item codes of the two Pros differ only by a leading 3, AX88D-P against 3AX88D-P. Camel Gold does not prove a Pro either: the Taiwan-made Game shares it, in the same 3U and 4U sizes in Japan, and so did the Tour sold to special order in the US. The Made in Japan marking and the Namd shaft are what separate the Pro from the Game.
The name outlived the frame
In March 2024 Yonex released what its Japanese announcement called the third generation of the 88, adding a Tour model beside the Pro and Game in Japan. Yonex kept the name, and its match reports print “88 D PRO” for both racquets; its 2026 reports still list Kong Hee-yong on the Astrox 88 D Pro, now linked to the third-generation product page. Results after March 2024 therefore cannot be credited to the 2021 frame without other evidence, and the record above, from Sonoda’s debut to Kunlavut’s world title, is what belongs to this generation.
Yonex’s item code is AX88D-P (AX88DP in Yonex USA’s catalog). Check for Camel Gold, a Made in Japan marking, a frame 10 mm longer than standard and Yonex’s weights: 4U at an average of 83 g (grips 5–6) or 3U at 88 g (grips 4–6). Yonex lists stiff flex, high-modulus graphite with Volume Cut Resin and tungsten in the frame, and Namd in the shaft. There is no Power-Assist Bumper strip across the frame top; that is a 2024 feature. A Camel Gold frame made in Taiwan is the 88 D Game, and an Emerald Blue frame is the 88 S Pro. Yonex’s own test is the hologram sticker, which resists peeling on a genuine racquet and lifts easily with a fingernail on a fake.
The 2021 88 D Pro is a standard-production frame with a strong documented record: world titles in men’s singles and men’s doubles, and two 2023 All England titles. Buy on identity and condition, with clear photographs of the whole frame, the cone and the shaft markings. Yonex’s reports name the model, never a particular racquet, so treat claims of match use as unproven. Players who want the current version will find it in the 2024 generation, which is a different racquet.