Nanoray 900
Model NR-900 · Mohammad Ahsan, Hendra Setiawan, Saina Nehwal
Price history
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Nanoray 900: the racquet of Ahsan and Setiawan’s 2015 world title and Saina’s No. 1
A world title and a world No. 1
On the final day of the 2015 World Championships in Jakarta, Yonex’s report named the Nanoray 900 for four of the medalists. Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan, both on it, won their second world title in front of a home crowd, 21–17, 21–14 over Liu Xiaolong and Qiu Zihan. Saina Nehwal, also on the 900, lost the women’s singles final to Carolina Marín 21–16, 21–19, and Kamilla Rytter Juhl took silver in women’s doubles with it. Five months earlier Saina had won the India Open on March 29 with the 900, 21–16, 21–14 over Ratchanok Intanon, and Yonex reported that the win made her the first Indian woman to reach world No. 1.
Built for the steep smash
Yonex Japan announced the Nanoray 900 on May 7, 2014, for a worldwide release in mid-June. Its stated purpose was a sharp-angled smash that drops in front of the opponent and breaks their position. Yonex stiffened the top and bottom of the frame and gave the middle a broad Nanometric section that flexes at impact to hold the shuttle, then sends it down at an angle; its machine test showed the smash path 1.9 degrees steeper than an earlier Yonex racquet. The frame shape also let the main strings move more, to put spin on cut smashes. Yonex lists a frame of high-modulus and high-strength carbon with Nanometric and Super HMG, and a shaft with X-Fullerene and Ultra PE fiber, with a T-Anchor at the joint. It was made in Japan in Iron Gray, 2U and 3U, at ¥25,000 before tax, for students, young adults and advanced players. Yonex rates it stiff and recommends 20–25 lb in 2U and 19–24 lb in 3U.
Ahsan, Setiawan and Saina
The racquet appeared before it reached shops. Yonex said Ahsan and Setiawan, then the world’s top men’s doubles pair, would use it at the May 2014 Thomas Cup in New Delhi, and at the Uber Cup Saina beat Lindaweni Fanetri 21–17, 21–10 with her new 900, telling Yonex it delivered “an extremely strong smash, coming down solidly.” Yonex lists the Indonesian pair on it when they won the Hong Kong Superseries that November, 21–16, 17–21, 21–15 over Liu and Qiu, and Saina on it for her 2015 All England final, lost to Marín. In 2016 Yonex Japan said the pair had played it since 2014, quoting Ahsan calling it the racquet that best matched his game and Setiawan saying his control and smash had both become more aggressive. Later users included Chinese Taipei’s Wang Chi-lin, who won his first men’s doubles title on it in April 2017, and Japan’s Chiharu Shida, on it when she and Nami Matsuyama won their first World Tour title in October 2018.
Iron Gray, Blue/Navy and two player designs
The launch color was Iron Gray. In mid-June 2017 Yonex Japan added a new Blue/Navy design, navy with a metallic finish meant to express the racquet’s firm feel, and named Saina among its users; it was the color Yonex Japan still listed at the end of the run. In early July 2016 Yonex Japan released two limited designs for the Indonesian pair: the Nanoray 900 AH in Deep Red, for Ahsan’s acrobatic style, and the 900 SE in Cool White, for Setiawan’s defensive game. Both were 3U only, sold at an open price, and they have their own pages. Yonex USA sold the same Deep Red and Cool White colors on lower Nanoray models as well, such as the Nanoray 7 AH and the Nanoray 95DX SE, which are not 900s. Indian retailers also listed a “Rio Limited Edition” 900 with a cover bearing Saina’s signature; no Yonex record of it is documented.
Six years in the lineup
The 900 stayed in Yonex’s range for six years. In December 2019 Yonex Japan’s Nanoray list still carried it beside the Z-Speed, GlanZ, 800 and 750, while the new head-light Nanoflare 700 and 800 had already arrived. Yonex’s global page was live in April 2020 and gone by that summer, and Yonex Japan’s list of August 2020 no longer included it. It was a playing racquet sold for years in two colors, so most examples were bought to use. The verified sales shown above are pre-owned standard frames from Asia resale. The Ahsan and Setiawan editions are separate models with their own pages; a Deep Red or Cool White frame is a different object from an Iron Gray or Blue/Navy one.
Fakes and look-alikes
No counterfeit specific to the Nanoray 900 has been documented, and Yonex publishes no model-specific guide, so its general checks apply. Internal consistency is the more useful test. Every Yonex listing for the 900 says Made in Japan, and Yonex offered only 2U and 3U, so a 4U example is mislabeled or not genuine. The player editions narrow things further: they are 3U only and carry their own item codes. The same red and white also appear on lower Nanoray models from Yonex’s Ahsan and Setiawan range, so a Deep Red racquet needs its 900 marking before it is treated as an AH.
Reviews and successors
The Nanoray Z-Speed held the family’s speed record and carried Marín’s titles; the 900 carried those of Ahsan, Setiawan and Saina. Reviewers were warm with reservations. UK coach Paul Stewart gave it four and a half stars in 2014: flat drives were where it shone, but he was not hitting the sharper angles Yonex promised, and he found it less head-light than the Nanospeed 9900, which UK reviewers treated as its predecessor. Yonex itself compared the 900 only with an unnamed earlier racquet, and its balance record is split: Yonex billed Nanoray as a head-light series, while the 900’s own Japanese gauge sits at even. Its players moved on to the Nanoflare line. Wang Chi-lin was on the Nanoflare 700 by March 2019, and Shida later played the Nanoflare 800.
Yonex’s item code is NR900, and every Yonex listing gives Made in Japan. Yonex rates the flex stiff and offered 2U (average 93 g) and 3U (average 88 g), each with grip 4 or 5; there is no 4U. Standard colors are Iron Gray (2014) and Blue/Navy (2017). Deep Red with the code NR900AH, or Cool White with NR900SE, is a 3U-only player edition. Yonex lists Nanometric and Super HMG in the frame, X-Fullerene and Ultra PE fiber in the shaft and a T-Anchor at the joint, and Yonex Japan’s page marks it 10 mm longer than a standard racquet. Yonex’s own checks: a laser-engraved production code on the cap above the handle, a hologram sticker that resists peeling, and a butt cap in Yonex’s green.
A Japan-made Nanoray from 2014 to 2020 whose documented history belongs to Ahsan and Setiawan’s 2015 world title and Saina Nehwal’s 2015 season. Decide which version you want first: Iron Gray, Blue/Navy or one of the 3U player editions. Ask for photographs of the color, weight class, Made in Japan marking and cone code. It is a stiff frame, so check the head and T-joint for cracks, and treat any claim that a frame was used by a named player as unproven without documentation.
Verified prices last updated Sep 2026. All data based on tracked secondary market transactions.