Following five sessions of tuning in to the racket, the Black Panther 4U has a lovely feel, and also knows how to win. Jnice have found a luxurious sweet spot between low weight, and an aerodynamic, head heavy, medium flex swing. The result is a lively and purposeful all rounder, that’s light in defence, but weights up quickly in attack. There’s plenty of control at the net, and it cuts through the air quickly enough for those reflex returns that leave your brain catching up, wondering how and why the rally is continuing. You might be able to design an even faster head light racket, but you’d miss out on the plush, solid, and very satisfying feel of the drives, smashes and net kills, as it switches to head heavy attack.
Construction and cosmetics seem good, with some fancy rainbow sparkling gold graphics against the black of this tenth anniversary ‘special edition’, and there’s a velvet bag with gold embroidered logo to carry it in. The handle benefits from adding Yonex ‘super grab’, which adds almost no size but helps with control. The logo print on the strings looks a little mushy and the paint marks the shuttlecocks, but as supplied, there’s great feel from the strings once they settle.
It’s quite an adjustment from my previous, stiff and evenly balanced racket, achieving the same all round playability, but in a completely different, and much more characterful way. It has me coming back for more as it feels so alive and focused, and it’s gradually revealing itself as an elegant and effective secret weapon. While it’s always tempting to try different rackets, this could easily be ‘the one’.