Muscle Power 70
Model MP-70 · Taufik Hidayat, Lars Paaske
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Muscle Power 70: the “new Muscle Power Frame” Yonex Japan listed for Taufik Hidayat
Muscle Power all over
Yonex Japan introduced the Muscle Power 70 in spring 2001 under the headline “a structural revolution for the 21st century: the new Muscle Power Frame debuts.” The frame idea itself was not new. Yonex’s 2000 Asian catalog already tagged the Muscle Power Frame on the Ti-10 and four other models, and the Muscle Power 100 of 2000 had carried it down to the joint. On the MP-70 Yonex added continuous eyelets along the lower frame, which it said made the whole frame Muscle Power. Its advisory-staff pages later listed the racquet for Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat and Denmark’s Lars Paaske.
Continuous eyelets and an Ultimum Ti shaft
Yonex’s Muscle Power page explained the frame as a semicircular ridge raised where string meets frame, which it said cut the energy lost at impact and the tension lost over time, so that a lower tension still gave enough face pressure. The MP-70’s continuous lower eyelets pressed string and frame closer still: by Yonex’s own comparison, smash speed rose 5% over an ordinary racquet, and pressured shots such as smash returns became easier to play. Yonex listed a high-modulus carbon frame and a high-modulus carbon shaft with Ultimum Ti, the titanium material it had introduced in the MP-100’s shaft; unlike the 100, the 70 lists no titanium mesh. It came in 3U and 2U with grips 4 and 5, with a soft case, at ¥22,000 before tax. Yonex recommended 17–20 lb mains and 19–22 lb crosses for the 3U, 1 lb more for the 2U, and published no flex, balance or gram weight.
Taufik, Paaske and the Armortec 700
Yonex Japan’s advisory-staff pages listed the MP-70 as Taufik Hidayat’s racquet in captures of July 2003 and April 2004, and as Lars Paaske’s from June 2004 to April 2005. Paaske’s entry carried the 2003 world men’s doubles title he won with Jonas Rasmussen, who was listed beside him on the MP-90. These pages record a player’s current racquet, not what was used in a given match, and they could lag behind a switch. By October 2004 Taufik’s entry named the Armortec 700, and Yonex’s own 2013 retrospective of his career files his Athens 2004 Olympic gold under the 700, one of the five favorite racquets it shows; the MP-70 is not among them. No Yonex report ties a title to the MP-70.
Silver, then Midnight Purple, and the export 77
Yonex Japan sold one frame in two designs: silver (color 017) at launch, then Midnight Purple (339), flagged as a new color on the October 2002 page and the only one listed from then on. The page kept its 5% smash-speed line but swapped the attack-and-defense pitch for face stability and control; materials, sizes and price stayed the same. Yonex USA’s Muscle Power page first listed a Muscle Power-77 in December 2002 and last listed it in February 2004, with the same 3U (85–89 g) and 2U (90–94 g) classes, an Ultimum Ti shaft and no titanium mesh, rated Stiff. No Yonex source says the two are one racquet, and the export sheet differs in detail: lower recommended tensions, a G4 grip only, and a built-in T-joint that Yonex Japan’s page does not list. Yonex USA’s spec sheet gave the 77 power and control marks of 5 and 5, and its Muscle Power list of June 2004 no longer carried it, running the 99, 88, 66, 44 and 30 instead. No player or limited edition is documented.
Three seasons on Japan’s list
Yonex Japan’s racquet lineup of June 2001 had two Muscle Power models, the 100 and the 70. The MP-50 was listed by August 2001, the MP-80 by October 2001, the MP-90 from April 2002 and the MP-60 in 2003, so by December 2003 the line ran six models from the 100 at ¥25,000 down to the 50, with the 70, at ¥22,000, fourth of the six; the MP-50 has its own page. The MP-70 was still on that December list; by March 2004 its page had moved to Yonex Japan’s old-model section, which files the Midnight Purple frame in its 2003 group. Under this name the racquet appears only on Yonex Japan’s lists. An unused frame today is old stock more than twenty years old. No verified sales are recorded yet.
Copies and lookalikes
No counterfeit of the MP-70 is documented. The practical question is identity. Yonex Japan sold six Muscle Powers side by side in 2003, and the MP-70’s silver or Midnight Purple sets it apart from the red MP-100, the yellow MP-90, the champagne or navy/silver MP-80, the white/silver MP-60 and the MP-50, blue at launch. A frame named Muscle Power 77 is the export listing, which Yonex never calls the same racquet. The number also recurs across Yonex Japan’s range of the time, on the Ti 7 and the Aerotus 70 Long, so a listing titled only “Yonex 70” needs a photo of the frame’s name.
Between the 100 and the Armortec
The MP-70 sits early in the Muscle Power story: the first Japan model below the flagship, and the frame that introduced Yonex’s continuous-eyelet “new Muscle Power Frame.” The models that followed took other routes, the MP-80 with a light frame and an ultra-slim Ultimum Ti shaft, the MP-90 with Ultimum Ti in the frame itself. Production of the 70 ended in 2003, the year Yonex launched the Armortec 700, the racquet its staff pages later listed for Taufik. The MP-100 stayed in production until 2006, and the MP-90 and MP-80 until 2007.
Look for a silver (Yonex color 017) or Midnight Purple (339) frame named Muscle Power 70, with the raised Muscle Power ridges between the grommets and the continuous eyelets Yonex described along the lower frame. Yonex Japan sold it in 3U and 2U with grips 4 or 5 and listed a high-modulus carbon frame and a high-modulus carbon shaft with Ultimum Ti. It published no flex, balance or country of manufacture, so treat seller claims about them as unverified. A frame named Muscle Power 77 is the export model, which Yonex never calls the same racquet. On a frame more than twenty years old, check the grommets, the T-joint and the grip for cracks and repairs.
The MP-70 is a Japan-market Muscle Power of 2001–03, the frame that introduced Yonex’s continuous-eyelet “new Muscle Power Frame” and the racquet Yonex Japan’s staff pages listed for Taufik Hidayat and Lars Paaske. No frame has a documented match history, and Yonex’s own retrospective files Taufik’s Olympic gold under the Armortec 700. Confirm the color, weight class and name, treat a Muscle Power 77 as a related but separate listing, and inspect an old frame closely.