As the sport continues in popularity, the bookmakers offer a massive range of tennis bets to take advantage of. What you will find is that some of the bets will offer more value than others, but this will range given the match in question.
This article will allow you to see some of the more mainstream betting markets and also some of the more obscure betting markets in question. You are likely going to see that the range of markets will vary between bookmakers, but the majority of these listed should at least be available on the higher profile sites with the smaller sites being a bit more hit and miss.
Outright Betting
The first place to start is the tournament outright betting market. This is where you back a player that you think will win the tournament outright. The bet is pretty simple to make and you will be paid out should your player go all the way.
As a bit of an extension to this, you are also going to be able to bet each way on this market. Betting each way means that you essentially place two bets – one of the players to win and one on the players to place. The place market will usually pay out the top 2 places when it comes to tennis, so you are essentially betting on them making the final if you do decide to bet each way.
Match Betting
Match betting is going to be your most popular betting market and this is where you bet on the outcome of a head to head match. As the outcome of the match is for a player to progress to the next round, there is no draw market for this and only on a Player A or Player B to win outright.
Depending on the tournament and, depending on whether you are betting on the men’s or women’s matches, then the games will be played as bet of 3 or 5 sets. The winner is deemed the player to have won the most sets and to progress to the next round.
Set Betting
You are going to be able to bet on the outcome of each individual set when it comes to tennis betting. This market can technically be broken down into two parts:
- Betting on the correct score for the match in terms of sets
- Betting on the winner of the first/second set prior to that match starting
It’s important to remember that if you are betting on each individual set and not the correct score, the result of the match can technically be irrelevant. For example, you bet on Roger Federer to win the first set and he duly obliges, but goes on to lose the match, then your bet will still win. But, if you bet on Federer to win a match 3-2 in sets, and goes on to lose, then obviously your bet will lose.
Total Sets and Games Over/Under
One of the most popular bet types in the industry at the minute is that of the over/under and as a result this market has been worked into tennis betting, as well. You are essentially going to be able to bet on the total number sets or games that take place during any given match.
The biggest rewards come from the game line, as this can fluctuate much more than sets, especially in matches that are played out the best of 3 sets.
Handicap
The handicap markets are great for matchup’s that include players of very different standards. The majors, for example, can often provide very uneven games in the first couple of rounds as players are pretty much drawn at random. This can make betting markets almost redundant given the odds for the favourite.
But, by introducing handicaps for these games, you will find that they start to offer much more appealing odds. The process is very simply in that one player has games added to their score and one player has games taken away from their score to create the handicap result. It’s worth noting that handicap bets can also apply to set betting, as well as game betting.
Double Result
The double result market is a pretty unique one for tennis in that you are going to be able to place two bets that are dependant to each other for that game. For example, you may bet on a player to win the first set and then go on to win the match. Alternatively, you may back a player to lose the first set and then go on to win the match. These bets are much more volatile than most, especially given the number of possible outcomes, making them exciting, if not a little reckless.