First game of the night I heard a crackle sound mind swing on a smash. No partner contact. Too loud to have been a string snapping. It stopped the rally dead because the sound was so bizarre. I checked the head first and noticed nothing out of sorts. Then I examined the shaft and noticed fracturing just above the boost cap. I've had the racquet since the end of October and it's not had any collisions or scuffs. I Think I may have heard an similar sound mid swing the first week with it but figured it was due to a misshit. Now I think it was the beginning stages of this more serious fracture. So it's possible that the performance of the racquet has been compromised for the entire time I've had it which would make sense as I feel it was much stronger my first week of games and from then on seemed underpowered.

In any case I've left the strings on, still have the plastic on under my overgrip, The purchase receipt, even the soft sleeve (which I'm hoping I can keep) and I'll bring it into the proshop today to start the replacement process. I figure this will be a pretty straight forward one. Only issue is the 100zzVA was notoriously hard to source here in western Canada at launch so it may be a while before I can see a replacement.

*Update* Racquet was sent off to Yonex Canada a month ago for review and was approved for warranty replacement.

My new racquet arrived at the pro shop today but they were informed by Yonex that this new racquet will not have a warranty.

This is the only time I've ever purchased a defective racquet so I get that it's a rare occurrence and I shouldn't have to worry, but it gives me the impression that Yonex expects this will probably happen to the replacement and they are covering their bases.

Has anyone seen a trend in QA issues with the VA edition at their clubs?