Tennis betting is split into a few different areas. There are pre-tournament bets, looking to pick a winner of an individual event. In-match betting is popular, too – more information on that can be found in our in-play tennis betting guide.
It is one of the most popular sports to bet on. Tennis, unlike many sports, is played all-year round with plenty of matches played almost every day of the calendar year.
Tournaments come thick and fast for those who favour outright betting. It is well-suited to accumulators, such is the intensity of the schedule. There’s no waiting until next weekend to find out if you’re going to be collecting your winnings.
The Grand Slams – Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and Roland Garros – are unsurprisingly the most popular events.
There are plenty of other high-profile tournaments, however, such as Masters events and the Davis Cup. Odds to win the major tournaments are often available months in advance.
What Tennis Bets Are Available?
For those new to tennis betting, it can be a daunting page to visit on a bookmaker’s website. The range of betting options – which make it such a popular sport – is vast from each-way tournament winners through to the winner of the next point.
In-play betting allows bettors to place a wager on anything from the next point to the eventual winner of the match. There are plenty of markets in between.
Exact score markets are available for the game, set and match. There are options to back a tie-breaker or over a certain number of tie-breakers in the match. As in most sports, there are plenty of under/over options – in tennis, this includes games, sets and total points won.
Pre-match betting includes many of the same markets. Handicap betting is particularly popular and an important part of tennis betting strategy. It’s a good way to find value on heavily favoured players and can be a means of constructing an accumulator at a great price.
888sport offer outright tournament betting throughout major events. Odds are already available for all four Grand Slams in 2020. Bookies will often offer long-term specials, too, such ‘Kim Clijsters to be ranked top 20 before 10th November 2020’.
Top Tennis Tournaments For Betting
Whether the men’s tour (ATP) or women’s tour (WTA), there are always plenty of matches for bettors to analyse. Value is out there, even if it takes some research into lesser-known players.
Men’s tennis is split into three tiers; ATP tour, ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Futures Tour.
The ATP is still ‘under’ the ITF, but it takes control of most men’s events in the tennis calendar apart from Grand Slams, the Davis Cup and the Olympics.
Players collect points from their performances at events which they ‘keep’ for 12 months and contributes to their ranking. The same system is in place for the WTA tour.
The Challenger Tour is an interesting area for bettors and can be a good place to find value. Players outside the top 80 are usually found here, as are youngsters. Seasoned veterans occasionally drop into the Challenger Tour if they have seen their ranking drop.
Like the ATP, the WTA tour is still under the control of the ITF but runs its own events throughout the year. While the Big Three continue to dominate men’s tennis, the WTA tour is crucial as you research ahead of a big event.
Upsets are more common in women’s tennis and the best bettors will often be able to identify good value by analysing previous WTA matches.
How To Find Value In Tennis Betting
The number of options to bet on tennis are a positive, but they can also make it harder to find that hidden gem of the day. If there are 50 matches happening, not every one is going to have a value price available.
Sifting through the matches that don’t offer anything worthwhile is crucial to finding good value in tennis betting. As in any sport, the key is finding bets where the implied probability differs from your own probability.
An example of this might be Roger Federer against a lesser-known, but in-form player. Federer’s price, largely because of his popularity, is sometimes shorter than it should be.
If the odds imply an 80% chance of a Federer victory, but you think it’s closer to 60%, there’s value to be found either in backing Federer’s opponent or maybe in a handicap bet.
Whatever market you're looking for, when it comes to tennis betting 888 Sport has you covered
*Credit for the main photo belongs to Ng Han Guan / AP Photo*
