How to bet on Tennis Part II
Tennis betting is one of the most popular activities among online bettors. Every day, thousands of people visit online bookmakers to place bets on tennis matches. The top Asian and European bookmakers offer you a variety of tennis betting options to choose from. In this article, we will explain the main types of tennis bets you can make when you wager on this sport.
The main types of tennis bets
One thing to keep in mind is that the best betting sites offer a wide range of tennis bets. Especially during the major Grand Slam events: Australian Open, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon, and the US Open. When the competition reaches its peak, tennis betting even surpasses soccer betting.
• Match winner
The simplest way to bet on tennis is to predict the winner of a single match. For example, if Novak Djokovic plays against Denis Shapovalov, you just need to bet on the player will win. Your bookmaker will show you the two players and their odds. Then, you just have to pick the one you think has the best chance of winning. That’s easy, right?
But if you bet on the Favorite, your potential winnings will be much lower, since he is the most likely to win the match. If you bet on the Underdog, your potential winnings will be much higher, since he is the least likely to win the match. But this is also a big risk.
This type of tennis bet may offer some value, but you can often find better odds on other markets.
• Championship winner
In this type of market, you don’t bet on individual matches, but on the tournament itself. You have to predict the winner of a future tournament, and that’s it! It’s a simple way to bet on tennis, but it requires a good knowledge of the players involved. Your winnings will be paid out at the end of the tournament, of course, if your pick wins.
Betting on an outright may seem easy, especially when you have legends who usually dominate for long periods. But you can’t ignore the possibility of their defeat by new rising stars. That’s what happened in Wimbledon 2023. There, the Spanish sensation Carlos Alcaraz beat the four-time defending champion Novak Djokovic. It’s up to you to analyze the players’ forms and skills.
• Exact score (set)
In this type of market, you have to predict the exact score of a set and, by extension, the winner of that set. This market is very risky, and usually has high odds because of its difficulty. It requires a careful study of the players’ usual performances and patterns over each of their sets.
• Number of sets and games (Over/Under)
In this type of bet, you don’t have to predict the winner of a match. Instead, you focus on how long the match will last in terms of sets or games. This type of bet is also known as ‘Over/Under’.
All bookmakers offer a total number of sets, shown in decimal form. You have to choose the option you think is most likely to happen. Here is an example of the kind of offer you might see in a best-of-five match.
Under 3.5 (1.50)
Under 4.5 (1.03)
Over 3.5 (2.10)
Over 4.5 (5.40)
In this case, the odds are so low that the match is expected to end in a 3-set (3-0) or 4-set (3-1) victory for one of the two players. By extension, a 5-set win (3-2) seems the least likely scenario.
This type of tennis bet also applies to the number of games won by a player in a specific set or in the whole match.
Example:
Most of the time, by looking at the odds, it will seem obvious that the favorite is more likely to win the first set. Moreover, there is little chance of the first set ending in a tie-break, given the high odds associated with this outcome.
But if the underdog wins a tie-break in the first set and you have bet a large amount of money on this possibility, you can make a fortune… Does this sound unbelievable? That’s exactly what happened in the Wimbledon 2021 final between Novak Djokovic and Matteo Berrettini (6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3). Anything is possible!
• Tennis Mix Parlays
Like in other sports, this type of bet combines several tennis predictions into one. It’s a great chance to win much more than if you had to place each bet separately. Just select several bets at once to create a combined bet. This way, all your bets are grouped together on a single slip.
As we mentioned earlier, some matches often lack suspense. If the favorite has too much advantage over his opponent, the odds will be so low that they are not worth it. Therefore, this type of bet is perfect for combining several low-value odds and creating a snowball effect to increase your potential winnings.
The risk is that if any of the tennis bets in your slip are wrong, you will lose your whole combined bet. All the predictions in your combined bet must be correct.
• Combo
The combo is a type of bet that requires a double prediction. Usually, it involves predicting the winner of the match and another aspect of the game: the total number of games in the match, the total number of sets in the match, both players winning a set, the order of the sets, etc. You need to get both the tennis bets in your combo right to win any money.
For example, if your favorite player tends to start his matches slowly, but always finishes them strongly, you can predict that he will lose his first set (and maybe even the second one) and then win the match. The 2021 French Open final between Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas is a good example of this scenario.
• Handicap betting in tennis
Let’s talk about a type of bet that is very popular with tennis fans: the handicap bet. It works similarly to betting on the winner of a match. The difference is that the handicap considers the differences in level between the players. This means that you can virtually give more or less points to a player. Here is an example:
- Daniil Medvedev (+7.5) = 1.85
- Tommy Paul (-7.5) = 1.85
In the first case, Daniil Medvedev must win by more than 7.5 games (i.e. 8 games or more ahead of his opponent) for you to win your bet. If he loses the match or only wins by 7 games, your handicap bet loses. Conversely, if you choose the second scenario, your bet will win if Tommy Paul wins the match or loses by 7 games or less.
• Prop Bets
These are special tennis bets that are based on a very specific aspect of the game. We are not talking about a player’s victory in a match, but rather about things that are hard to predict. Proposition bets are a fun way for tennis fans to add some extra thrill and expertise to their betting. Some popular tennis prop bets include:
- Betting on a player who will win or lose the match in straight sets
- Predicting which player will win each set before the match ends
- Wagering on how many games a player will win in a single set
- Determining who will have more double faults during a certain part of the match
- Predicting who will hit more winners or unforced errors
- Wagering on who will have the most aces, double faults or which player will win a specific set
These types of bets offer more variety than traditional outright winner markets, allowing bettors to find great value when they make informed choices. One thing is certain: your guessing skills will be challenged.
• In-play betting
We have talked a lot about pre-match betting, which is very common. But in recent years, there has been a huge growth in the live betting segment. You can place many different live sports bets, depending on how the match unfolds. If your favorite player starts poorly, you can still adjust your bet and take advantage of attractive odds. Even better, if the player you have backed is likely to lose, you can even switch sides and bet on his opponent to win.
Moreover, live tennis betting can also involve short-term events, such as ‘who will win the next game?’ As you can imagine, the options are endless and constantly changing. The best tennis betting sites also provide a continuous stream of useful information (percentage success on serve and return of serve, unforced errors, double faults, number of aces…) to help you make your choices.
Betting on tennis can be fun and profitable. We hope that this article has given you the information you need to succeed in tennis betting. You can now open a betting account via agent to try your skills!