This begs the question: What exactly can be sensibly changed about it? Or is it possible to make this perfectly balanced classic worse?

To answer that, let's first take a look at what type of player the Arcsaber 11 serves so successfully. "The versatile, athletically ambitious player with touch," we hear from YONEX. And this type is found among singles and doubles players alike.

With the new YONEX ARCSABER 11 PRO, Japanese market leader YONEX now wants to prove that they can offer this type of player even more. New high-tech materials and careful fine-tuning in detail should make it possible.

What is new? Overall, the new ARCSABER 11 PRO frame has been designed to keep the ball on the stringbed for a long time, giving the player maximum control and hitting precision. A slightly enlarged hitting surface provides more forgiveness, while CONTROL ASSIST BUMPERs mounted on the upper part of the frame are designed to provide improved control. T-ANCHOR in the form of micro-tetrapods are designed to help prevent the vertical strings from shifting for improved control when hitting.

Even before the official sales launch, the BADLAB racket team had the opportunity to put the new ARCSABER 11 PRO in specification 3U/G4 (85-89g) through a practical test to find out whether the upgrade was successful - and whether this racket also has what it takes to become a classic. The beautifully timeless grey-red matt finish would certainly have what it takes.

By the way, all BADLAB testers played the current Arcsaber 11 again and again in between to develop the best possible feeling for the changes.

All test rackets were strung with both the YONEX AEROBITE and the YONEX AEROSONIC - each at 24 lbs.

The ratings were again based on the categories "handling", "feel/ball control", "power" and "forgives inaccurate hitting", all on a scale from 1 star (hardly applies) to 5 stars (fully applies).

First impression: The YONEX ARCSABER 11 PRO is very pleasantly balanced in the hand - even though it falls into the somewhat heavier weight category with 89 g strung. The "handling" ratings of our testers are clear. This category shows the greatest progress compared to the current model. The new ARCSABER 11 PRO scores a very strong 4.25 stars here.

It is pleasing to note that the high rating for handling does not come at the expense of the category "Power for long clears and hard smashes". Especially when strung with the Aerobite string, the ARCSABER 11 PRO produces rich "pressure" and could thus fully convince even the "hard hitters" among us: 4.75 stars.

In its main discipline, "feel and ball control", the frame delivers in practice what the theory promises. If you hit the shuttlecock cleanly, you can expect a very convincing experience. Here, the rating is accordingly almost full marks: 4.75 stars.

The ratings in the category "forgives inaccurate hitting" show that this is a very sophisticated device. Here, the ARCSABER 11 PRO achieves "only" 3.5 stars from our testers.

Overall verdict of the BADLAB racket team: The Arcsaber 11 legend lives on in the Arcsaber 11 PRO! The racket does feel a little harder overall, but surprisingly this is not at the expense of playability. We all agreed that no other racket is as perfectly balanced and versatile at the highest level as this new Arcsaber 11 PRO. World No.1 in XD, Miss Sapsiree Taerattanachai from Thailand and World No.7 in MD, Aaron Chia from Malaysia (freshly crowned winner of the Asia Team Championships 2022) are already playing it. And we are sure that many more players will follow.
Conclusion: New life has been breathed into the king of the "allrounder". We recommend this top racquet to all advanced, athletic players - whether for singles, doubles or mixed.