Head Championship tennis balls are very popular tennis balls in the UK, particularly given their low price. They are designed to be an all-round performance tennis ball, suitable for play on a variety of tennis court surfaces and a variety of standards. But just how good are they? In this Head Championship tennis ball review we’ve tested the balls and rated their performance, durability and overall value for money.
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Head Championship Tennis Ball Specifications
| Ball Type | Pressurised |
| Court Type | All Court |
| Player Level | Intermediate – Advanced |
| ITF Classification | Approved, Type 2 Medium Speed |
| Other Features | N/A |
Ball Testing Conditions
Given that Head Championship tennis balls are commonly used at a club level, often outdoors, we decided to test these tennis balls in a similar environment. The balls were tested on two separate occasions: once playing singles tennis on tarmac hard courts in dry conditions and once playing doubles tennis on wet astro-turf courts. Fortunately, these are circumstances that most UK players will encounter on a regular basis, so we’re confident we can provide a fairly accurate review of Head Championship tennis balls.
Overall Test Results - Head Championship
Here’s a quick overview of the ratings we awarded the Head Championship tennis balls in our test:
First Impressions
Our first impressions of the Head Championship tennis balls were good. The packaging itself had all the signs of being a high quality set of tennis balls. Once opened, the balls appeared to be well manufactured, showed no signs of discolouration or pressure loss and bounced well straight out of the can.
Knocking up with them in the warm up, we noticed right away that the tennis balls were extremely lively. Playing with just a bit of topspin, we found ourselves hitting groundstrokes at almost shoulder height, making it pretty difficult to find any rhythm in the warm up.
They were a little uncomfortable to play with at first, but we were sure they would just needed breaking in a little. After about 10 or 15 minutes of hitting with the balls, they seemed to be become much easier to control and nicer to play with. At this stage, the balls reached what we considered to be their optimum level of performance.
Performance - Score: 87
As we mentioned before, Head Championship tennis balls seem to need breaking in a little at first.
We judged the performance of the balls based on how they played after being broken in. After the initial loss of speed and bounce, the performance of the balls seemed to remain consistent for a few hours of play. Overall, we were very pleased with the playability of the Head Championship and found them to be fantastic for playing competitive tennis.
Ball Bounce
Head Championships are extremely lively straight out of the can. There is no doubt that this is a high bouncing ball, which can make finding your rhythm in the warm up a little more difficult, particularly if you’re playing in any sort of windy conditions.
However, we found that after a little while of hitting with them, the balls seemed to lose a little bit of their bounce. Traditionally, this could be considered an issue. In this case though, it’s a good thing. The initial ball bounce is uncomfortably high, with the ball often bouncing to near head height. Once worn down a little, the ball bounced consistently at a little below shoulder height, so they played much more like many other types of high bouncing tennis balls.
At this stage, they were great to play with. The high bounce is certainly a benefit to anyone who likes to hit the ball with a bit of topspin, though is also great for playing aggressive tennis by flattening out shots and looking for winners. They seemed to maintain that bounce consistently for a good couple of hours.
Ball Speed
Officially, the Head Championship tennis balls have been given a Type 2 classification by the ITF (International Tennis Federation), suggesting they are considered to play at a medium speed.
In our opinion, the balls played rather fast at first. However, after the warm up, the balls seemed to slow down a little and played much more like a medium speed ball. At this point, the rallies became slightly longer, making the game more entertaining.
That being said, at no stage did the balls feel too slow. The felt didn’t show any signs of fluffing up or lifting, so maintained their speed for pretty much the entire time we used them. We were always able to get enough pace on the ball to hit through the opponent, making them great for competitive tennis whether singles or doubles.
Durability - Score: 92
When tested on tarmac hard courts, the durability of the balls was superb. Despite playing high intensity singles tennis for more than two sets and on a very abrasive surface, the balls seemed to show very little wear and appeared to maintain their performance throughout. We were able to play with them for well over two hours and were even able to reuse them a week later with a very similar level of performance. Of course, the condition of the balls did seem to diminish quite rapidly after that and began to develop a somewhat irregular bounce. Overall, we were able to get 4-5 sets of singles tennis in before they started to show any significant signs of wear and would comfortably consider these as highly durable tennis balls.
Unfortunately, the same can’t really be said for their durability on wet astroturf courts. The Head Championship balls seem to lose their high and consistent bounce pretty quickly and didn’t really last more than two sets of doubles. In fact, we found ourselves struggling to play with them towards the end of the second set, and it was obvious we wouldn’t be able to use them again after that. That being said, the Head Championship don’t appear to have been designed for playing with in wet conditions, so we wouldn’t consider this much of a con when considering their overall durability.
Price & Value For Money - Score: 90
At a little over £1 per ball, even when purchased in tins of 3 or 4 balls, the Head Championship tennis balls are some of the cheapest on the market. They are widely available in the UK and can easily be purchased from most sports stores in the country. They are also commonly available for purchase in bulk orders from online retailers such as Tennis Point and Pro Direct Tennis, to mention just a few. Even at such a low price, at no point did we feel the balls were of low quality, and can confidently say they are great value for money.
Verdict & Final Thoughts
All in all, the Head Championship balls are a great all-round tennis ball, suitable for a variety of surfaces and levels of tennis. Beginners may find them a little difficult to control, though anyone with a bit of playing experience should enjoy using them. Even at such a low price per ball, we were very happy with the levels of playability and durability of the balls and were able to use them on more than one occasion. They may not be the best tennis balls for using in wet conditions, but they hold up extremely well on hard courts. Personally, we would consider them to be amongst some of the best tennis balls in the UK and would highly recommend them for club level tennis.
Buy Head Championship Tennis Balls
As we mentioned before, Head Championship tennis balls are widely available in the UK, though we’d probably recommend buying them online as they are less likely to have been sitting on a shelf for the last 12 months.
If you decide to buy Head Championship tennis balls, we’d love it if you could use one of the following affiliate links. At no extra cost to you, we’ll earn a small commission if you go on to buy from one of these sites. This helps us keep Tennis Creative free for everyone!
Similar Tennis Balls
We haven’t reviewed any tennis balls that we would consider similar to the Head Championship, though we’re regularly testing new tennis gear and updating our content.
