Tennis betting tips: how to bet on tennis

Fans of sports betting are usually tennis fans as well! Sports bettors may very well be interested in how to bet on tennis tournaments. Even if tennis isn’t their sport, they may be intrigued by all the changes going on in the industry right now, and eager to speculate by placing a few bets on the major tennis events coming up.

A few names have dominated the sport at the top level in the last 15 years or so, including Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer. But with all these players well into their 30s, or even 40s, now there is scope for new names to come up through the ranks and shake the sport up a bit.

There’s a changing of the guard going on in tennis now, with the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner coming through, ready to reshape the international tennis scene. And while it’s no doubt sad for many fans to be saying good-bye to the old guard, it’s also an exciting time for those who love the sport and want to place bets.

Tennis predictions

As with any sport, strategic tennis betting is about a lot more than placing a wager on a favourite player, or the one that bettors want to win. Serious sports betting enthusiasts will be following what goes on in the world of tennis, and asking themselves specific questions before placing wagers, such as:

What form is each player is in? Are there any injuries to consider? Are there younger competitors on the scene who are only going to get better as they gain confidence over the course of the season? What surfaces are the tennis majors played on? Do certain players perform better on a specific surface? (Nadal on clay is known to always be one to watch, for example).

When are the tennis finals for each tournament? What form might each player be in by then, given any current injuries or setbacks?

While there’s no such thing as a perfect tennis betting strategy, there are certainly plenty of factors to consider that should help bettors place the bets that are most likely to pay off.

Tennis Betting Markets

Given that a single Tennis match is made up of smaller increments of games and sets, there are a wide variety of markets that you can place a wager on. Betting odds are provided for traditional markets such as Winner, which applies to individual matches, and Outright Winner, which applies to tournaments as a whole. Within matches, you can also place a bet on the total number of games (which must be at least 18 in the men’s game for a Grand Slam, or 12 in the women’s) and the total number of sets.

Exploring the markets further, you can also place a wager on handicap betting, which can figuratively level the playing field, and is a popular system in a variety of other sports betting markets such as Basketball and Football. Bettors can give an advantage to certain players by giving them a head start in games or in sets. A final area to place a wager on would be on the number of tie-breaks you believe there will be across an entire match.

Tennis Betting Terms

Over/Under Sets: This market allows bettors to predict how many sets they think will occur across a single match. The Over bet is best reserved for matches in which you expect there to not be much separating the two players, whereas the Under bet is used if you expect one player to dominate the match and win it quickly.

Over/Under Games: You can also break down the sets into their individual games as well. For the men’s game, the minimum number of sets is three, so the minimum number of games must be 18 (e.g: 6-0, 6-0, 6-0). For the women’s game, the minimum number of sets is two, so the minimum number of games is 12 (e.g: 6-0, 6-0).

Number of Tie-Breaks: Bettors can bet on the number of times a set will finish level at 6-6, and enforce a tie-break. The tie-break sees the first player reach 7 points awarded the win for the set. The tie-break result is unimportant with this bet, it’s purely a market on the number of tie-breaks you think there will be.

Set Betting: This market allows bettors to make a score prediction for each individual set. This is similar to scoreline bets in other sports.

Outright Winner Each-Way: For an entire tournament, bettors may have a predicted overall winner in mind. The Outright Winner market allows you to select who you think will win that tournament, with Each-Way options in place that scale down the potential returns depending on where the selected player finishes (e.g: lost in the final, eliminated in the semi-final, etc.)

How to bet on Tennis over/under bets

Most sports bettors have probably heard of tennis over/under bets as they’re a common type of wager offered by all sportsbooks and betting venues. But they may be wondering how to bet on tennis over/under, and how is this type of bet different from other tennis bets. Over/under bets in tennis mean that instead of betting on a specific player to win, bets are made on whether a match will consist of over or under a certain number of games.

Bettors who are not tennis aficionados should remember that each set can potentially go to 13 games, with the 13th game being a tiebreaker. The over/under market certainly has its benefits, but it can also be very risky. Even the best players can lose games and sets, even when playing against less experienced, lower ranked players. So, it’s quite hard to predict the number of sets a match will go to.

What are the tennis Grand Slams?

Each year, four tennis Grand Slam competitions take place. But what are the tennis Grand Slams, and why are they so important? Let’s take a look. The Australian Open is typically the first Grand Slam event on the international tennis calendar, taking place in Melbourne around January/February time. It is played on a hard surface and generally provides some thrilling games and spectacular finals.

It’s also worth remembering that winning the Australian Open puts a player in a coveted position where it’s theoretically possible to go on to win all four Grand Slams of the season. Lose the Australian Open, and that accolade is immediately off the table. Wins at this tournament have historically been split between the top names in tennis, with Nadal, Federer and Djokovic all taking home the title. The 2014 win by Stan Wawrinka at least proves that a long-shot win is also possible.

The French Open takes place in May/June in Paris, on clay courts. Nadal (known for his high performance on clay) has won numerous French opens since 2005. Only a few have gone to Djokovic and Federer, with another Wawrinka win in 2015.

Wimbledon takes place in the UK in June/July, on the South London club’s iconic grass courts, with a ton of international celebrities and invariably a healthy smattering of British royalty in the crowds.

Again Nadal, Federer and Djokovic have all featured heavily on the winner’s podium over the last 15 years, and top UK player Andy Murray has also taken home wins. In 2023, Wimbledon was witness to the changing of the guard, when Carlos Alcaraz took the title from the more experienced veterans on the courts.

The US Open takes place in August/September on the hard surface (DecoTurf) courts in New York. Many bettors would agree that this is historically one of the more unpredictable tournaments. While Nadal, Federer and Djokovic have all won the tournament more than once in the last couple of decades, there have also been wins from Murray, Wawrinka, Marin Čilić and Dominic Thiem, with Danill Medvedev taking the 2021 title and Carlos Alcaraz taking it in 2022.

Who has won all four Grand Slams?

Winning all four Grand Slams is a huge accomplishment that has been achieved in the modern era by only a few players. And yes, as expected, they include Nadal, Federer and Djokovic.

Winning all four Grand Slams in a single calendar year is even more impressive and has only been achieved a handful of times. In the men’s singles, Don Budge managed it in 1938, as did Rod Laver in 1969. In the women’s singles, it has also been achieved a few times, by Maureen Connolly in 1953, Margaret Smith Court in 1970, and Steffi Graf in 1988. Those who have won Grand Slams in the past tend to go on to win a number of other tournaments, so a win in a Grand Slam could potentially prove to be a real launching pad for a player’s career. However, a Grand Slam win can of course also be a one-off.

In the 2021 US Open, the men’s singles was won by Danill Nedvedev. Emma Raducanu also took the women’s singles title in a surprise win. This is proof that winning a Grand Slam is never a guarantee of a long and fruitful career afterward – tennis predictions aren’t always straightforward.

Hopefully our tennis betting guide has helped sports bettors think about the wagers they might like to place in the coming tennis season.