Are you interested in learning how to bet tennis? One great aspect about tennis is that there are tournaments running almost year-round, so there’s no “off-season” like in other popular sports.
I’m going to assume you already understand betting odds. In this guide, we’re going to discuss the most popular tennis betting markets and some strategies to help you grow that bankroll.
Popular Tennis Betting Markets – Types of Bets
There are more ways to bet on tennis than betting on who you think will win a tournament/match.
Tournament Futures/Props:
Future bets are a great way to bet on tennis. You can bet on a player to win a tournament outright, to reach the finals or the semi-finals at varying odds.
These bets are placed before the tourney.
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There are also various tournament props offered by bookies, especially for the majors. An example would be betting on a player to outlast another player (head-to-head tournament bets).
For grand slam tournaments, there are going to be more tournament props.
For example, you can bet on whether or not a #1 seed will win a tournament. Another common bet at grand slams is whether or not an American will win a single title (men’s or women’s title).
Match Winner
Betting on a player to win a tennis match straight up (moneyline) is the most common bet.
You can also bet on tennis handicap markets.
It’s the same as a point spread bet in other sports. One player will be favored by X number of games. For example, Player A is -4.5 (-110). This player needs to win by 5+ games to win the handicap bet. If Player B wins or loses by 4 games, they win.
Set betting is also popular.
There are regularly big favorites early on in tennis tournaments. Rather than betting on a player to win on the money line at -1000 odds, you could look at the set betting market and bet on that player to win 3-0 if you expect them to dominate the match.
There are also set handicap markets.
In a 3-set match the favorite will have a -1.5 set handicap. This market can be ideal if you like the underdog to win at least a set, but don’t want to bet the ML.
Over/Under Markets
Not sure who is going to win a tennis match? That’s perfectly fine. Look to the over/under markets.
Bettors can bet on the over/under on how many sets or games in a match.
One strategy is to bet on the over for games played when two players meet who have big serves and poor return games.Related: ATP and WTA Latest News and Notes
First Set Markets
Betting on the first set has grown in popularity. Bettors love instant gratification. You can wager on who you think will win the first set or how many games will be played in the opening set.
Some bookies also offer exact score set bets where you need to predict exactly how many games each player will win in the set. This type of bet is simply gambling, but the payout odds are big.
Parlays
I’m not a big fan of parlays when betting on tennis. However, early in tournaments when there are a lot of matches with big favorites, parlaying the ones you like together makes sense.
Betting on a bunch of big favorites straight up isn’t a good idea when the odds are terrible, but if you like a group of favorites to win, you can parlay them all together on the same bet.
Just remember, if even one of the selections loses, the entire bet loses and your stake is lost.
Props
I enjoy betting on props, but be careful as many aren’t smart bets.
Some examples would be betting on how many aces or unforced errors in a match. You can also bet these props for one player only.
Handicapping how many aces in a match is popular. Multiple websites track many stats, such as how many aces a player hits/concedes. There’s also data on court/surface for predicting aces.
Live Tennis Betting (In-Play)
Tennis is the perfect sport to bet in-play and big matches will have millions bet on them live. You’ll be able to bet on all common match markets (money line, handicap, over/under).
However, there are also lots of props to bet on.
MASSIVE In-Play Tennis Betting Opportunity
You can bet on every single point of a match.
You can bet on whether the next serve will be an ace or which player will win the next point.
You can also bet on single game markets.
You can bet on which player you think will win the next game or the correct scoreline. There are endless possibilities when betting in-play.
Tennis matches are often back-and-forth affairs with both players going on runs. There are often big swings in the match markets in-play and you can make money spotting overreactions.
Conclusion
I’ve listed the most popular tennis betting markets, but there are plenty more.
The better you know the available markets, the easier it’ll become for you to handicap tennis matches.
Some tennis matches are crapshoots unless you have information others don’t, such as an illness or unknown injury that a player hasn’t disclosed. Betting solely on match winners can be tough and there are often better ways to bet a match. It’s important to look at all of your options.
