Nanoray Z-Speed
Model NR-ZSPEED
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Where to find it
The record holder: Nanoray Z-Speed
The world record claim
On September 13, 2013, Yonex launched the Nanoray Z-Speed with one of the most audacious product claims in racquet sports history: it was the frame used to set a 493 km/h smash speed — a Guinness World Record. Yonex had first set the record in 2010 at 421 km/h with a predecessor design, then completely rearchitected the racquet to break its own benchmark three years later.
Engineering the fastest smash
The Z-Speed's design philosophy inverted conventional thinking. Where most speed-oriented racquets achieved fast swing weights through lightness alone, the NR-ZSPEED combined an ultra-aerodynamic frame profile with a precisely tuned head-light balance that reduced air drag at the critical arc of the swing. The result could theoretically never match the power of a head-heavy Voltric — but in the right hands, the shuttle left the string bed faster than anything that had come before it.
An underappreciated artefact
At $300 on the secondary market, the NR-ZSPEED is inexpensive for a world-record-holding instrument. Collectors and speed-oriented doubles players who understood the Z designation have kept a steady baseline of demand, but it remains an underappreciated artefact of Yonex's engineering ambition. The NR-900, its flagship sibling, commands similar prices with far less historical significance.
Nanoray Z-Speed branding on frame. Head-light balance — tips toward handle in hang test. Extra Stiff shaft. Aerodynamic ultra-thin frame profile narrower than standard Nanoray models. Made in Japan. Standard Yonex hologram.
Inexpensive for what it is. The Guinness record claim is documented and permanent. When the secondary market catches up to the historical narrative, prices will move.
Prices last updated March 2026. All data based on tracked secondary market transactions.