Tennis Betting

Tennis betting can be one of the most attractive types of sports betting for bettors willing to do some research. Because tennis has become increasingly popular most people know about the highly publicized top players. Such familiarity with players like Pete Sampras and Roger Federer leads the average fan to believe they know what they are doing when placing tennis bets.

Unfortunately most of them don’t have a clue. Experienced tennis bettors can exploit this lack of knowledge by betting on lesser known players. Players outside the top 20 often have favorable odds due to the high number of bets on the big names in tennis.

Big events such as Grand Slams and other large tournaments offer tennis bettors the best chance to make a good return. The opening rounds of these tournaments are a great place to find upsets by lower ranked players with favorable odds. It can definitely pay off to do your research and look for upsets in the early matches.

Common Tennis Bets

The most common tennis bets are Match Ups. A Match Up bet is simply a bet on who will win a tennis match. The odds on these bets are represented by a money line wager. An example of a tennis money line would be: Roger Federer (-160) Guillermo Coria (+140). In this example Federer is the favored player, always denoted by a negative number. A bet of $160 on Federer would pay $100. A bet of $100 on Coria would pay $140. It doesn’t matter how the match is won, just who is the official winner.

Some bookmakers will also take Set bets. As you could probably guess, this is just a bet on who will win a particular set instead of an entire match. Sets are often less predictable and harder to predict than matches. Because of this you can often find better odds for a higher payout on Set bets.

In addition to money line wagers there are also Futures and Proposition tennis bets. Futures bets are wagers on major events, such as who will win a tournament. The odds for Futures bets are very simple, such as Sampras 3-1. A bet of $100 would pay $300 if Sampras won the event. Proposition bets are a little harder to explain. They basically cover everything else you could possibly bet on, from number of faults in a match to the color of shirt a player will wear. Proposition bets are more common at online sportsbooks.

Your best way to win when betting on tennis is to watch for up and coming players and possible early upsets. Also keep informed on how players perform under different court conditions and tournament situations. Look around for favorable odds at different sportsbooks. Online sportsbooks often offer better lines and take a smaller cut than standard books. So do your homework and good luck!