Tennis Betting Strategy: Set Betting Markets

Realising there’s more to tennis betting than merely backing a match-winner is vital if you are ever to make profit at betting sites.

Plenty of ATP Tour and WTA Tour tennis match-ups are between heavy favourites and stark outsiders, which means that the simple match bet doesn’t offer strong enough odds to return a healthy profit when betting on a tennis tournament.

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18+. New Customers only. Bet £10* & Get £30* in Free Bets. Sign up, deposit between £5* and £10* to your account and bet365 will give you three times that value in Free Bets when you place qualifying bets to the same value and they are settled. Free Bets are paid as Bet Credits. Min odds/bet and payment method exclusions apply. Returns exclude Bet Credits stake. T&Cs, time limits & exclusions apply.

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18+, Welcome Bonus: New Players only, 1st Deposit, Min Deposit,: £10, Max. Free Bet amount £10. valid for 14 days, bets must be placed at odds of 1/1 or greater and be settled within 14 days of placement. System bets not eligible. Neteller,Skrill and Paypal not eligible. T&Cs apply

Established 1997

InPlay Tennis

Cash Out Tennis Can you cash out of bets before an event has finished?

Yes

Yes

Ante Post Tennis

Live Streaming Tennis

Yes

Yes

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Min deposit £/€/$10 • Offer is valid until 10/07/2022 23:59 • A qualifying bet is a ‘real money’ stake of at least £/€/$10 on Tennis market • Min odds 1/2 (1.50) • Free Bets expire after 10 days and valid only for Tennis • Free Bet stakes not included in returns • Withdrawal restrictions, payment methods, country & Full T&C’s apply.

Tennis betting tips are highly sought-after and one area many punters seek pointers on is tennis set betting.

When done right, set betting can turn a good profit and it will increase your enjoyment of the matches you’re watching. Here’s everything you need to know about your tennis bet options when it comes to sets.

What is Set Betting in Tennis?

Set betting in tennis is the term given to bets placed on markets that focus on individual sets within a match. There is a range of available markets within set betting, the primary ones being correct match score (in sets), set winner and correct set score.

Set betting markets are usually available to wager on both before matches and in-play. This gives the punter the advantage of timing their set bets and also making more accurate, detailed choices over the course of a match compared to, for example, placing one big lump on the match-winner market at the start of the contest.

The beauty of set betting is that punters can follow the ebb and flow of a match and determine when to place a timely bet. In 2022, for example, it may be the case that you think Rafael Nadal will tire in five-set matches on the hard court, and so is likely to drop sets later in big clashes. Likewise, Dominic Thiem is famed for rallying on clay and could be a smart bet to drop an early set at the French Open, before pushing through to win his contests.

Read More: French Open betting offers

Best Matches to Place a Set Bet on

One of the big problems with betting on tennis – and especially in a Grand Slam – is the uneven odds in the early rounds. Novak Djokovic could have miniscule odds to beat a first-round opponent at Australian Open betting sites, and so backing him is hardly worth your time. Sometimes punters lump the big boys together into an accumulator tennis bet and hope there isn’t an early-round upset, while others will opt to spread bet.

But others use set betting during Grand Slams to maximise tennis betting odds by focusing wagers on more specific events, such as the winner of the second set, or the first to break in the third set. So, if you want to perfect your set betting then consider the early rounds of Roland Garros, Wimbledon, the Australian Open or the US Open as testing grounds for these wagers.

Read More: Get access to Wimbledon free bets

Tennis Set Betting Strategy

There are times when set betting is one of the smartest bet choices you can make and here are three top tennis strategy tips to ensure you’re on the path to big wins.

In-Play Tennis Betting

No sportsbook is complete without live tennis betting and the best in-play betting sites provide great detail for bettors. Many bookmakers will also offer live streaming, so you can follow all the action and make smarter, more reasoned bets based on the swing of the match.

For example, some players let matches get to their heads and can be affected by mistakes or even a hostile crowd, especially if a home favourite is in action in a Grand Slam match. When you spot this, a quick bet against said player in an in-play tennis betting market (perhaps you back them to lose the set, or lose it by a specific score) could lead to a quick profit.

Live tennis betting gives punters the chance to make those quick-fire bets in a second and play on instinct. And the great thing about tennis is there are numerous score opportunities on which to place your next wager.

Read More: Get the best Wimbledon betting odds for the 2023 tournament

Pre-Match Betting on Five Sets

Men’s Grand Slam tennis is perfect for set betting because matches are best-of-five, making them more predictable compared to women's tennis, which is best-of-three. Because of this you have the ideal platform to bet on match favourites over more sets and eke out individual rewards.

Players such as Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev occasionally drop sets early in Slams, so backing their matches to go into four or five sets is always worth considering.

Handicap Tennis Betting

You may opt for a handicap betting system when focusing on individual sets. Here, you could bet on whether the favourite will win the set with a three-game disadvantage, or perhaps you could bet on the underdog winning it with a two-game head start.

Tennis betting sites will also let you bet on the correct score of each set. This isn’t an easy task considering there are 16 possible score outcomes in a set of tennis – and that doesn’t even include the correct tie-break scores! Because of that, handicap betting is considered far more favourable when looking at individual sets.