Comprehensive Tennis Betting Guide: Accumulators, Futures, & More Bet Types
Making a profit from tennis betting requires more than backing a match winner, especially since many ATP Tour and WTA tennis match-ups feature heavy favorites against stark outsiders, resulting in low odds for simple match bets. To truly enhance your understanding and improve your profits, it's crucial to consider various strategic approaches that go beyond a straightforward "outright winner" bet.
How to Bet on Tennis Sets
Set betting can yield good profits. It involves placing bets on individual sets, rather than the overall outcome of the match. The most popular markets include the correct match score (in sets), the set winner, and the correct set score.
Set betting markets are generally available both before and during matches. This allows bettors to time their wagers and make more accurate, detailed choices as the match unfolds.
Why You Should Handicap Tennis Sets
Handicap betting in tennis is simple. This system allows you to bet on a favorite winning a set with a game disadvantage (e.g., -3 games) or an underdog winning with a head start (e.g., +2 games). Bookmakers often offer betting on the correct score of each set, which has 16 possible outcomes (excluding tie-breaks).
When is the Most Effective Time to Bet on Tennis Sets?
- During early rounds of Grand Slams: You'll often find uneven odds for match winners offer little value. It allows you to maximize odds by focusing on more specific events, such as the winner of the second set or the first player to break serve in the third set.
- Men's Grand Slam tennis: Its best-of-five set format provides a strong platform to bet on match favorites over more sets and extract individual rewards. For instance, players sometimes drop early sets in Slams, making bets on their matches going into four or five sets a worthwhile consideration.
Stage-of-Elimination Bets on Tennis
You can bet on the specific round where individual players will be eliminated. This option is typically offered for most Top-20 players playing in Grand Slams.
The key is identifying players who win matches they're supposed to win and lose to stronger players. These players progress nearly exactly as far as their seeding suggests, rarely exceeding that point. This can also be a helpful market for elite players who often find themselves in the late rounds of Grand Slam tournaments.
There are some alternatives to the stage of elimination bets, including:
- Round Reached: These are markets on players reaching a certain round, regardless of whether they win or lose that match.
- Progression Match: Bookmakers also provide odds that one of two players will progress further in a tournament. (Verify whether the bookmaker offers a tie option or if bets are voided if both players are eliminated in the same round.) Assess how far you expect each player to progress, choosing between a steady, consistent player and a streaky player who might go deep or lose early.
What are Tennis Accumulator Bets?
Tennis accumulator bets are popular because games with the top players tend to be one-sided.
Combining multiple matches into an accumulator at tennis betting sites is a great way to make things interesting and boost odds.
Tennis accumulator betting does exactly what it says on the tin. You pick several players to win their respective matches, and they all have to win for you to land the accumulator bet.
Examples of Tennis Accumulator Bets
For example, five matches were completed on the first day of the main draw at the ATP 500 at Eastbourne in 2019. The favourites were priced up as follows: 2/5, 4/5, 33/50, 6/10, 3/10, with the accumulator bet on all five favourites coming to 15/2.
But the player priced at 4/5 was James Millman, who lost in three sets to Fernando Verdasco, so the bet lost. There was little between them in that match, but if you employed a safer strategy, like only backing players priced 3/5 or shorter, you were left with a treble paying out at accumulator odds of 19/10 (which did win).
How to Take Advantage of Tennis Acca Bonuses
Of course, you can tailor your tennis accumulator to include players you think are overpriced and exclude those you deem suspect on the surface or out of form. But the risk, as with all accas, is that one player lets you down.
Some of the best bookmakers offer acca insurance on tennis accumulator betting. They will return the value of your stake as a free bet if one leg lets you down, although your acca usually must have a minimum of four/five legs and combined odds of at least 3/1.
Some online betting sites also offer lucrative bonuses on winning multi-leg bets. bet365 will pay a bonus ranging from 5% for a winning double or treble to 20% for a six-fold and 50% for a 12-fold or greater.
How to Pick a Tennis Tournament Winner
While name recognition and star power are important, several other factors are crucial for making an informed wager on a men's or women's tournament winner.
- Player Form: How a player has fared in previous tournaments, especially Grand Slams, is a primary consideration going into an event.
- Surface Analysis: The playing surface is arguably as critical as form to a player's potential to win. Players often have a surface where they historically perform best.
- Venue History: Past performance in a particular venue can significantly impact a player's chances of success.
Considering a player's form, preferred surface, and venue history, you can apply an almost foolproof method to improve your profits. Consider placing an each-way bet, which allows you to claim half the odds if your player makes the final and half if they win the tournament.
Why It Pays Off to Live Bet on Tennis
Tennis betting sites offer detailed live markets and live streaming, allowing you to follow the action and make more informed decisions as the match progresses, which can help when players are affected by mistakes or crowd noise.
Spotting such moments allows for quick, instinctual bets, potentially leading to quick profit. Tennis' numerous scoring opportunities make it excellent for rapid-fire wagers.
