How Do You Bet On Tennis

1. When a game starts you can bet on a player to win the next set or first set. Bet on player A or Player B to win the set and if they win the set you win, if they lose the set you lose. Total sets over/under.
2. Betting on tennis online in legalized states is very straightforward. All you need to do is open up an account at a regulated online operator, fund your account, and find the bets you find appealing.

When Americans think about betting on sports, our first thoughts usually turn to football and horse racing. Over in England and Europe, the sports to bet on are soccer and tennis. To explain how betting works in tennis, I called on Luke Rees, a British sports fan and writer. Here’s what he wrote:

When placing a bet on a tennis match, it can often be quite confusing to interpret the various odds available. There are numerous markets to pick from, and also many different options for those looking to boost their profits, meaning punters often decide to stay clear of the tennis game.

This article will outline the basics of reading the odds, and provide advice for tennis spectators who want to make the game a little bit more interesting.

Betting On the Money Line

The first is betting the money line, meaning betting that a specific player or team will win the match outright. The other is betting the spread, meaning that you’re betting one player or team will win, plus. The first of the two options for betting the spread in tennis, is betting the game line. If you’re familiar with betting spreads, this will be an extremely easy concept and you can skip ahead a bit. And Murray wins 14 games (4+7+3) If you bet.

Money line bets are the most basic and popular market in tennis (and the majority of sports for that matter, including horse racing). Essentially, the bookies provide the odds on the outright winner of a match, and you simply pick your favorite for the win. The favorite in a match is given a negative (-) money line, and the underdog is indicated with positive (+) money line.

Here’s an example:

• Andy Murray -190 (favorite)
• Vasek Pospisil +300 (underdog)
• Negative money line: this indicates the amount of money needed to bet in order to win $100 in profit. So, in the example above, it would require a $190 wager on Andy Murray to win $100 in profit, for a total pay-out of $290.
• Positive money line: this indicates the amount of money that would be won from a $100 wager. In the example above, a $100 bet on Vasek Pospisil would result in a $300 profit if he wins the match, for a total pay-out of $400.

The first step to take when making a bet is to look at the money line and decide if it is worth taking out a bet. For instance, you may decide that betting on Pospisil is not worth it at 4/1 odds ($400 return for $100 bet) because Murray is currently the strong favorite. But say the money line on Pospisil was 8/1 or +800: you might have a different opinion if you stood to make a $900 return.

The money line is used not only for individual games, but also for betting on a player to win the tournament outright. This is commonly referred to as Outright Winner betting: you can see some Wimbledon outright winner predictions at Bookmakers, for example.

Betting ‘Each Way’ means you place two bets, one on the player to win the tournament and one on them to finish in the top 2 places (i.e. to reach the final).

The Handicap Market

The handicap (or HCAP) market is another popular market. This is because rather than predicting the outright winner, you are instead betting on how a certain player performs. A handicap market simply means that one of the players is given an advantage at the beginning – usually by adding a certain amount of games to their overall score.

Let’s take the same tennis example. This is how it might look:

Andy Murray -7.5 -190 vs. Pospisil +7.5 -190

The money line is even on this bet, what has changes is the handicap. In both cases, a wager of $190 would bring back a $100 win if the right player is chosen. The pay-out is even, because the spread has balanced out the competition between the two players.

Imagine that this is the result from the match: 6-3 6-4 6-4

Totals Games Won – Murray 18 vs. Pospisil 11

As you can see, despite losing the match in straight sets, a bet on Pospisil would have actually been the winner in this case. The handicap of +7.5 games for Pospisil gets added to his 11 games won to give him 18.5 total. That is a half-game ahead of Murray in this case, and so a bet on Pospisil would be paid out.

Betting on Accumulators

One final interesting way to bet – if you’re feeling especially confident and want to boost your profits throughout a tournament – is to place multiple bets on a series of matches. These are known as Doubles, Trebles, and Accumulators. For the bet to come through, you have to get each result correct, otherwise there is no pay-out.

Imagine a $30 single bet on Novak Djokovic to beat Andy Murray at odds of -250 (or 2/5) returns just a $10 profit. This may not be particularly appealing, so to make it more worthwhile you could put down a treble on three different games. If all of them pay out around -250, your $25 stake will make you $50 profit. After each correctly predicted match outcome, your profits go up exponentially.

With the tennis season well underway, and the U.S Open just around the corner, now’s the time to get down to the bookies with your new betting know-how. But always remember, never bet what you can’t afford!

Luke Rees is a sports writer and enthusiast from London, UK, who likes to cover tennis, cycling, and football (or soccer to y’all). His most memorable sports experience was watching Federer and Roddick in the Wimbledon final in 2009 – he was rooting for Roddick, but Federer absolutely smashed it!

Betting on tennis might seem simple enough, with just two players going head-to-head most of the time, no possibility of a draw and tournament favourites usually known well in advance.

Think again! There are many subtleties and you must have an eye for detail to be successful. Let’s go through the main points to think about when betting on tennis.

How to Bet on Tennis: The Best Offers For March 2021

Main Tennis Betting Markets

Match Betting

Starting with the simplest tennis bet to understand, betting on the match winner gives you a choice of 2 players (or 2 teams, in the case of doubles).

The thing is, tennis matches often have a very clear favourite, with odds of 1/8 (1.125) or lower common on top players in the early rounds of a tournament. Sure you can back Murray or Djokovic at 1/8 if you like, but let’s put that in perspective; you need to stake £100 just to make a profit of £12.50. And if the unthinkable should happen and your player loses, you’re in the hole big time!

So in terms of risk and reward, a single match betting pick is generally not worth it, unless you fancy an overpriced outsider, or combine several favourites into an acca for greater returns.

Handicap Betting

As in other sports, handicap bets are among the most popular when betting on tennis. In the case of an unequal match-up, you can bet on a market which is much more level.

This handicap is expressed as a number of games added onto one player’s score and the same number of games taken away from the opponent’s score. In the example below, the handicap line is 4.5 games.

Nadal is seen as the clear favourite so he is odds-on to win this market, even with a -4.5 game handicap. On the other hand, you can get evens on Fognini to win with a +4.5 game headstart.

Match result: Nadal wins 6-4, 6-4.

Total games: Nadal 12, Fognini 8.

With Nadal -4.5 handicap: Nadal 7.5, Fognini 8.

With Fognini +4.5 handicap: Nadal 12, Fognini 12.5.

In that scenario, a bet placed on Nadal -4.5 would be a loser, even though the player won the match, whereas a bet on Fognini +4.5 would win.

Note that when the handicap number includes a half-game or half-point, there are only two possible outcomes as there cannot be a tie.

Correct Score Betting

Another way to make a more creative prediction when betting on tennis is to bet on the score of the match i.e. the number of sets won by each player. You still get short odds on a heavy favourite winning to love but it boosts your return compared with a single.

Of course, when the match is played as best of five sets, as is the case for men’s Grand Slam matches, there are more different possible outcomes.

You can also bet on the score within a particular set, which is far more difficult to predict and therefore yields higher returns if you manage to correctly forecast.

Other Kinds of Tennis Bet

Most sportsbooks have a whole host of other markets you can bet on tennis, including antepost bets on the tournament winner and many markets on individual matches. Like with any sport, the bigger the match, the more markets it is likely to have.

Tennis is one of the most popular sports for in-play betting, with even more markets like point-by-point and game-by-game betting available. A word of warning: the odds change incredibly frequently, usually after the outcome of each and every single point! So make sure to get your bets on at the right time, ideally during a pause in the action between points or games.

Tennis Betting Strategies

Betting on tennis need a strategy to improve your possibility to win.

Tennis betting: the sets. Bet on a given score is like to bet on a final score on football.

Before sticking your money down on a tennis bet, there are several factors to bear in mind. We’ve listed the most important ones here and you may have others according to your own betting strategies.

How Do You Bet On Tennis Players

Player Match-Up

Of course, the most important factor is the strength of the players or pairs on the court. The world rankings or seedings are generally a good indicator of expected performance level, but of course upsets happen from time to time. Checking out recent stats and head-to-head records will keep you well informed.

It helps to know about the playing style of those on the court too. Knowing how they play on their own service and when returning serve can give you an idea of how the match is likely to play out.

Playing Surface

Some players are more comfortable on a certain playing surface than another, which is worth taking into account when you place your tennis bets. A prime example is Rafael Nadal, known as the King of Clay for his 9 French Open titles at Roland Garros, won within a period of 10 years. An additional variable (for hard court only) is the climate, depending on whether the match is played indoors or outdoors.

What’s at Stake?

Sometimes, one player may have more to gain from a certain match than their opponent, if they need to win to reach a certain ranking, for example. If a player has recently had an injury, they are probably not at 100%, or might not go all out and risk aggravating the injury. A factor like motivation is hard to quantify, but can have a big impact on the outcome of a match.

Find the Best Odds

When betting pre-match or pre-tournament, you have time to assess the available odds. If you can get much better odds with one bookmaker than another, it goes without saying that you should place your bet with them. However, the ever-changing odds of live tennis betting markets renders comparing in-play odds more or less impossible. Get a feel for which bookies have the best live odds and stick with your favourite.

Watch the Match

Of course, the Grand Slams get mainstream TV coverage, depending on your subscription. If you’re not aware already, you should know that the best online betting sites often have live streaming of tennis events. It’s easier to understand what’s happening in a match and bet accordingly when you can see the action live.

Main Tennis Events to Bet On

Aside from a period of around a month at the end of the calendar year, there’s top-level tennis to bet on all the time. Find out more about the best tennis events to bet on with our guide.

Grand Slams

The four Grand Slams are the most prestigious and coveted titles in world tennis. They also have the highest prize funds and most ranking points for the best performers.

Smart bettors can cash in betting on tennis Grand Slams as they generally serve up few surprises. As these are the most important tournaments for any male or female player on the pro circuit, the top stars always participate unless they are injured. They also plan their season around the Grand Slams, making sure to be on top form coming into the start of the tournament.

Furthermore, men’s singles matches are played as best-of-five sets, which reduces the chances of an upset. It’s not uncommon to see an outsider pinch a set against a favourite, or even two sometimes, but three is a lot rarer.

The extended match length also means players must be in top physical condition to last the course. Those with the best stamina have a better chance of clinching a final-set decider, should the score go to 2-2.

ATP and WTA Tours

After the Grand Slams, the ATP and WTA Finals give the highest amount of ranking points for winners. In terms of spectacle, they feature the top players in the men’s or women’s game, so you’re guaranteed to see some blockbuster matchups.

However, as these events take place at the end of the season, we advise extra caution when betting. The finals can often be affected by fatigue or injuries, coming after a draining year of tennis for those involved.

Meanwhile, the Masters 1000 or top-tier WTA events are worth checking out as they are spread throughout the season and carry important weight in the player rankings. The lesser events on the ATP and WTA tours can throw up surprises as the big guns sometimes skip these or don’t bring their best game. For an expert bettor, there’s a chance to find good value bets here.

Davis Cup / Fed Cup

OK, so there’s less money involved for the players in these competitions, but national pride is at stake, which is something you can’t put a price on.

The team nature of this event means it’s not enough to have one star player, a country needs several strong performers to go all the way. It’s an unpredictable event to bet on, as the teams involved don’t go head-to-head on a regular basis.

Often, the home team is buoyed on by its local supporters, which can be an important extra advantage. Meanwhile, the visiting team is sometimes subjected to whistles and boos, so players need to have mental strength in order to perform at their best level.

How Do I Bet On Tennis

How to Bet on Tennis Overview

How To Bet On Tennis Spread

The “How to bet on tennis” guide included the odds information, the bookmaker offers, the types of betting for tennis and how you can stream your favourite events. You can see an overview of this guide, bellow.