Nanospeed 9900
Model NS-9900 · Cheng Shao-chieh, Mohammad Ahsan, Christinna Pedersen
Price history
Not enough dated pre-owned sales yet for a price chart — our threshold is 3. 2 verified sales on record so far.
2 verified transactions on record · USD · methodology
Saw a sale? Report it →Where to find it
Search live eBay listings →Places to search for this racquet. We don't track stock, and listings and asking prices change fast, so check at the source.
Nanospeed 9900: the head-light 2009 flagship that Yonex later brought back
A flagship that came back
The Nanospeed 9900 is one of a handful of Yonex flagships to return to production after it had gone. It launched in February 2009 as the top of the Nanospeed line, gave way to the Nanoray range, and then, years later, new Made-in-Japan frames appeared again: dealers list a red edition dated 2018 and a Red/Gold run, color code R/GO, dated 2019. Both are sold under the original item code, NS9900, and dealers list them only in 3U with grip 5; no Yonex page or release for either has been found. The ArcSaber 10 is another, but such revivals remain unusual, and this one changes how the NS9900 should be read. A sealed, genuine example is not necessarily a 2009 frame.
February 2009: built for speed
Yonex launched the NS9900 on February 24, 2009, for the All England Super Series, as the new flagship of its Nanospeed line. In the UK it sat level with the ArcSaber 10 as the most expensive racquet in Yonex’s range. The design brief was speed. Yonex’s X-Fullerene, which the company describes as uniting carbon atoms into a football-like structure, went into the frame to keep the head light without losing stiffness, with Fullerene-reinforced graphite in the shaft. The model’s Yonex spec sheet also lists an Aero + Box frame section, an isometric head, a built-in T-joint, a Solid Feel Core for vibration and a Control Support Cap with a flat surface it puts at 88% wider. The result is head-light and extra stiff, with a published balance point of 285 mm ±5 on the original, offered in 2U and 3U.
Titles it did not win
The NS9900’s reputation has long carried results it did not produce. It is often credited with Lin Dan’s London 2012 gold, but China’s national team switched its sponsorship from Yonex to Li-Ning in April 2009, two months after the racquet launched. Lin Dan won London and his 2009, 2011 and 2013 world titles on Li-Ning N90-series racquets and did not return to Yonex until January 2015. His March 2009 All England title fell inside that overlap, and no source puts an NS9900 in his hands there. Carolina Marín’s Rio 2016 gold is also attributed to it, but Yonex’s reports place her on the Nanoray Z-Speed from 2014 into 2017. Lee Chong Wei is sometimes listed too, but Yonex’s records of the period have him on the Armortec 900 Power until 2011, not the 9900. Tan Boon Heong’s 421 km/h smash came with an ArcSaber Z-Slash, his 493 km/h mark with the Nanoray Z-Speed. Yonex Japan’s reports of 2010–11 do name professional NS9900 users, none of them the stars above: Taiwan’s Cheng Shao-chieh won the August 2010 Chinese Taipei Open singles with it, and Vita Marissa, Mohammad Ahsan, Thomas Laybourn and Christinna Pedersen won doubles or mixed titles with it between August 2010 and March 2011.
Originals, limited editions and reissues
The 2009 original is black, with red at the 10 and 2 o’clock positions and metallic orange and white stripes; Japanese retailers cataloged the color as Metal Orange (687). It was sold in Japanese-market (JP) and export (SP) versions, and dealers also list a China-market (CH) version with the same published spec. In 2011 Yonex Japan issued a limited NS9900LT for that August’s World Championships in London, in green or purple with the event’s name on the frame; it has its own page. Then came the reissues: a red frame listed as a 2018 edition, and the Red/Gold (R/GO). The materials stayed the same, H.M. Graphite with X-Fullerene in the frame and Fullerene in the shaft, but the published balance point moved from 285 mm on the original to 290 mm on the Red/Gold, whose spec sheet also lists 76 grommet holes and a 7.0 mm shaft.
One name, several racquets
Verified sales of the NS9900 are few, and those recorded so far are pre-owned frames; the price panel above shows them. The bigger problem for anyone reading prices is that one name covers several different objects. A 2009 JP or SP original, a 2011 Limited Edition and a 2018 or 2019 reissue are not interchangeable, yet listings rarely say which is which, and a single blended figure hides the difference. Dealer asking prices for the model vary widely across these versions, and asks are not sales. Claims such as “sealed” or “new old stock” carry no dating information on this model, because the reissues put genuinely new frames back into circulation years after the original run ended.
Fakes and dating traps
Counterfeit risk follows demand for a model that is no longer made, and the NS9900 spent years in that position before the reissues. The reissues then added a second complication: genuine new frames now sit alongside old stock and aftermarket inventory, so a racquet that looks new proves nothing about its age. Two facts work in the buyer’s favor. Every NS9900 run with a documented origin, from the 2009 originals through the 2011 Limited Editions to the 2018 and 2019 reissues, is listed as Made in Japan, so a frame marked Made in China or Taiwan deserves suspicion. And the model is head-light by design, so a head-heavy frame sold as an NS9900 is wrong. A serial number alone does not settle authenticity; a national Yonex distributor can check a frame if in doubt.
What replaced it
Yonex Japan lists the original NS9900 among its 2013 production ends, though the model stayed on its Japanese product list into 2015. By late 2012, discussion on a UK coaching site expected the Nanoray 900 to replace it. Yonex released that racquet in mid-2014, and at least one guide calls it the NS9900’s replacement. Head-light speed frames continued through the Nanoray Z-Speed and later the Nanoflare line, while the center of Yonex’s range moved to head-heavy Voltric and then Astrox frames. Players who learned on the NS9900 still look for a successor: in a 2023 forum thread, a player whose NS9900 had finally broken after more than ten years was steered toward the Nanoflare 800. That lasting demand is the most plausible reason for the reissues, though Yonex has not confirmed it.
Corrected September 2026: an earlier version of this page credited the NS9900 with Lin Dan's London 2012 gold and Carolina Marin's Rio 2016 gold. Thanks to DS for pointing it out. Spotted something else? Tell us.
Every NS9900 run with a documented origin, including the 2009 originals, the 2011 Limited Editions and the 2018–2019 reissues, is listed as Made in Japan; a Made in China or Taiwan marking is a red flag. Check that a market code (JP, SP or CH) is present and fits the version described. Genuine Yonex frames carry laser-engraved codes on the shaft and on the cone above the handle, not printed ones, and Yonex says a genuine hologram sticker resists peeling while a fake lifts with a fingernail. On the butt cap, fakes often show a wide, round “O” in YONEX. The frame should be clearly head-light. A serial number alone is not proof; a national Yonex distributor can verify a frame if in doubt.
Buy the version, not the name. A 2009 JP or SP original, a 2011 Limited Edition and a 2018 or 2019 reissue are different things, and listings often do not say which is which. Confirm colorway and market code from photographs before paying for an original, and remember that “sealed” says nothing about the year on this model. With no star user behind it, the NS9900’s appeal rests on how it plays and on which run a given frame comes from.
Verified prices last updated Feb 2026. All data based on tracked secondary market transactions.