Two or four people, a net, rackets and balls, that’s a tennis match. For those who don’t follow the game, it can seem a touch dull, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Skill, drama and controversy, Tennis has as much of each as any other professional sport. That is why millions watch the big tournaments, and its biggest stars become global icons.
Information on each player is easily accessible, with a good level of data that allows gamblers to make informed choices about each match they bet on, regarding performance, issues with different surfaces and current form.
Tennis gives us many options for betting, and with a relatively small number of key players and outcomes for any match or tournament, offers the sensible gambler a good way to make regular profits.
Tennis is a face paced game, with matches consisting of a number of games grouped into sets. Each set is 6 games, and each match is the best of 3 sets, with men’s tournament play being the best of 5 sets. Winning a set means winning the majority of matches in that set. Tournaments are held all over the world, with the most famous being Wimbledon, in the UK, and the US Open, held in New York.
One thing to consider with tennis is that different venues change the game considerably. For instance, Wimbledon is played on grass courts, the US Open on hard courts. Each surface means the ball reacts very differently, and players often have a style much more suited to one surface than another, affecting how they perform.
Knowing all this, you can see the potential for Tennis in sports betting, but to succeed, finding the best way to get started is key.
With so many options, starting your Tennis betting journey with one of the four major tournaments gives you the most predictable entry into the market. Known as the ‘Grand Slams’, these four are:
All the top players will be involved in these, bearing in mind that the court surface really does matter for form even with the best players. Now, we can look at the options you have to bet on these tournaments.
If you have every bet on the NFL, Baseball or NBA Basketball, you will know this bet. It is simply a bet on the outcome of the match, that is, who will win. It’s the simplest bet on a match, or even a tournament, you can often bet on the ultimate outcome of the tournament rather than individual matches, a bigger risk that can have bigger returns. This kind of Moneyline bet on the whole tournament is often called the Outright bet.
Players are awarded a handicap in the bookmakers pricing reflecting a number of games or sets advantage, and you place bets on the likelihood of a player with the positive handicap, the underdog, winning or if the negative handicap player, the favorite, will overcome the handicap and still win.
In many ways, this works in similar to a spread bet for NFL or NBA, if you have ever used them.
This is a bet on the total games played in a match. With the bookmaker choosing a figure, and the bet is placed on whether the actual total will be higher or lower. This works like an Over/Under bet in many other sports.
There are a lot of opportunities with tennis, not just in the several types of bet available, but also the sheer number of tournaments. We mentioned starting out with the ‘Grand Slam’ tournaments as they are the most accessible, however, there are professional tournaments all over the world and at any time of year. If you want to bet on Tennis, chances are there is a tournament on that will let you.
However, it is important to remember several things when looking for profitable bets. It is not just the player’s overall form and ability that matters, the type of surface being played on is more important than with perhaps any other sport. This is especially true with otherwise evenly matched players, where a match played on one player’s preferred surface can give them a significant advantage that the form book does not reveal. Take care with research though, and Tennis is a fantastic opportunity for sports betting.
