Champs vs cardio tennis: what is the difference?

Cardio tennis is a fitness-first class: coach-led drills to music, heart rate up, no scoring pressure. Champs is competitive king-of-the-court group tennis: real points, constant rotation, winners defending the champion end while a Host feeds balls so play never stops. The short version is that cardio tennis is a workout that uses tennis, while Champs is tennis that happens to be a workout.

Both are brilliant. I want to be genuinely fair to cardio tennis here, because it gets thousands of people moving who would never book a court otherwise. But they scratch very different itches, so it helps to know which itch is yours.

What is cardio tennis?

Cardio tennis is a group fitness class on a tennis court. A coach runs you through drills, feeds balls, keeps the music loud and the queue moving. The target is your heart rate, not the scoreboard. Nobody wins, nobody loses, nobody is keeping count.

That design is deliberate and clever. Removing scoring removes pressure, so people who find competition stressful can hit hundreds of balls in a judgement-free hour. Footwork, fitness and fun, with the outcome anxiety surgically removed. If a scoreboard makes your shoulders tense, cardio tennis will feel like freedom.

What is Champs?

Champs is fast-moving, king-of-the-court group tennis. Win points to claim the champion end of the court, then defend it against everyone else. Lose and you rotate out, plot your revenge and come back swinging. The Host feeds a fresh ball the moment a point ends, so there are no gaps, no ball collecting, no standing about.

Every ball is a real point that someone wins. That tiny fact changes everything about how a session feels. The near-misses matter, the winners get cheered, the comebacks become legend in the crowd chat afterwards. Sessions default to 90 minutes with 7 places, cost £12 through the app and every session has its own chat where the highlights get relived.

What are the key differences?

Points. Cardio tennis has none by design. Champs is nothing but points. This is the fundamental split. Everything else flows from it.

Structure. Cardio tennis follows a planned workout: warm up, drill blocks, cool down. Champs follows the game: whoever holds the champion end sets the story of the night.

Intensity pattern. Cardio tennis aims for sustained elevated heart rate. Champs gives you intermittent high intensity, which is tennis’s natural rhythm: flat-out sprinting during points, breathers while you rotate. You will finish both sessions sweaty. You will finish them sweaty in different shapes.

The social glue. Cardio tennis classes are friendly, but people tend to arrive, sweat and scatter. Champs is built to bind: weekly sessions keep one continuous crowd, the crowd chat runs all week and constant rotation means you genuinely play with everyone. Shared competition turns strangers into mates faster than shared lunges ever will. The research on tennis and health suggests that social side may matter as much as the exercise itself.

Winning. Nobody wins cardio tennis. Somebody absolutely wins Champs, right up until next week when they have to defend it.

Which one should I choose?

Choose cardio tennis if you want a structured workout, love exercising to music and find scoring genuinely off-putting. It is a superb fitness class and I will cheerfully wave you towards your nearest one.

Choose Champs if you miss playing actual points, want exercise that does not feel like exercise or are trying to build a social life that involves more sprinting. If part of your brain lights up at the phrase champion end, you already know the answer.

And if you are a rusty returner wondering whether you are ready for real points, you almost certainly are. Points in Champs are short, levels mix naturally and the rotation means no one is ever stuck being the weakest player on court for long. Our guide to getting back into tennis as an adult covers the wobbles.

Can I do both?

Absolutely, plenty of players do. Cardio tennis for the structured midweek burn, Champs for the points, the crowd and the glory. Whichever you choose, tennis is always better with people around you. Champs is built exactly for that: the same faces every week, a crowd chat between sessions and friendships that outlast the final point.

When you are ready for the points side of the equation, the FunTennis app maps more than 25,000 public UK courts with Champs sessions marked near you. Book a place for £12, first come, first served. No session near you yet? Request one at your local court and nearby Hosts get alerted. If you are the sort who would rather run the show than join it, read about becoming a Host.

Music and lunges, or points and glory. Either way you are on a tennis court, which beats the sofa every single time.