An in-depth understanding of the sport can wield numerous opportunities to make a steady profit while betting on tennis.
Top sites to bet on tennis in The UK
Betting on tennis overview
With over one billion fans worldwide, tennis is the world’s 4th most popular sport with a growing following. It is also the 4th most popular sports in terms of betting volume.
Tennis is also widely popular in the United Kingdom among players, fans or bettors. Throughout the years’ tennis has become a staple in the UK sports community. Modern-day tennis was in fact invented by a Londoner back in 1873.
Betting on tennis is entertaining, intense and when done right it can bring in some long term profit. Before you start betting your hard-earned money on the numerous tennis markets available at most bookies, take the time to familiarise yourself with all aspects of the sport.
If you’re not already familiar with tennis’s rules go to this section
Tennis Betting Markets
Tennis betting online is one of the most common sports to bet on in the UK. With over 120 tournaments disputed each year, tennis betting odds are available on every tennis match you can imagine, from top-ranked events like the Grand Slams to lowest-tier ones, the Futures Tour.
There are five main tennis betting markets:
- Outright bet – where you choose the winner of a tournament, not of a single match. Each tournament has a different number of rounds, some have up to 7 individual matches to determine the winner.
- Match Betting – the most popular and straightforward tennis betting market, where you pick the winner or loser of a match.
- Spread betting – betting on tennis spread is the equivalent to handicap betting. There are two main areas for spread betting in tennis: games and sets. In a games handicap bet, a player is given a number of sets as an advantage to level the playing field. You then have to pick whether a player will win with a handicap game advantage or make up their disadvantage and still win.
For example: you pick Roger Federer with a -6.5 games handicap to beat Andy Murray with a +6.5 games handicap. If Federer wins the match 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, that gives a total game scoreline of 18-11 to Federer. Your bet is a winner because Federer won by more than 6 games difference. The same principle applies to set handicaps, where your selection has to win or lose within the handicap margin. If you back a player to win -1.5 sets against another player, it will be settled as a winner as long as your selection wins at a minimum of 2 sets difference.
For a practical example, if you bet on Simona Halep to win -1.5 set handicap against Kiki Bertens, you will win as long as Halep wins 2-0 in sets. If Bertens wins the match or loses but still wins a set, 1-2, your bet is then a losing selection.
- Over/Under Betting – this market is very similar to the game/set betting line. You bet on whether a match will go over or under a number of predetermined sets/games. For example, if you bet on under 3.5 sets and/or over 30.5 games in a Wimbledon matchup between Novak Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka that ends 6-4 6-4 7-6, both your bets would be winners. One player won in 3 straight sets so it was under the 3.5 sets selection, but the match was tight enough to produce 33 games, so it was over 30.5 games betting line.
- In-Play betting – a growing market, in-play betting is popular in a fast-paced sport like tennis when momentum can shift within seconds. With games ending in a few minutes and some matches in less than an hour while others go on for at least 3 hours which momentum shifting on both sides, you have to be on the lookout for good value odds betting opportunities on games and sets.
If you are new to tennis betting we suggest you to take a look at the best betting bonus UK to start with.