How to bet on Men’s Tennis

Men’s tennis has grown into one of the most popular betting markets in recent years. With so many tournaments played throughout the year and a huge amount of statistics available, there are betting opportunities available on an almost daily basis. If you want to bet on men’s tennis, it makes sense to start with the basics, this means understanding the tournaments structure and the different types of events that are played.

This article focuses solely on the men’s game simply because women’s tennis is a totally different prospect when it comes to betting. Women’s tennis can be very unpredictable and requires a different approach. In fact many seasoned gamblers avoid betting on women’s tennis altogether. So let’s start by taking a look at the main events on the men’s tour.

The Grand Slams

The Grand Slam events are the four big tennis tournaments that most people will be familiar with. The Grand Slam programme comprises of the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, and players can earn the maximum 2000 ranking points by winning one of these events.

The Grand Slams represent the pinnacle of men’s tennis and the top players will try to manage their training and tour schedules with these events in mind. The matches differ from the rest of the tour (apart from the Davis Cup) as they are played on a best-of-five-set basis. This can often mean long and gruelling matches that provide the ultimate test of stamina, skill and mental endurance.

The ATP World Tour

The ATP refers to the Association of Tennis Professionals that was formed in 1972 to protect the interests of professional tennis players. The association has been solely responsible for organising the men’s tour since 1990.

The ATP tour has many events that are divided into different ranking tiers and named accordingly. The Masters 1000 series are the next tier down from the Grand slams and will earn you 1000 ranking points. The Masters Event schedule includes the end of season World Tour Finals – known as the Race to London due to its location – which features the top eight players from the yearly ranking system. This differs slightly from the overall world ranking system which calculates the standings on a rolling 52 week basis.

The ATP World Tour also includes ATP 500 and ATP 250 ranking events; and the Davis Cup which is an international team tournament. All of these events can contribute ranking points to the World Ranking system and to the yearly WTF Race to London ranking. All of the tour events apart from the Davis Cup are played on a best-of-three-set format.

The Challenger Tour

The Challenger Tour is the next level down and is the stepping stone for players looking to breakthrough into the ATP World Tour. This tour is very competitive and sometimes features well known players that have lost form or are recovering from injury. Despite the lack of TV coverage, the Challenger Tour can also be a great place to find betting opportunities for more experienced gamblers.

Factors to consider when betting on men’s Tennis

• There are many different factors that can come into play when betting on men’s tennis and this is why studying the statistics and looking for patterns is so important:
• Different playing surfaces are used throughout the year on the men’s tour and include clay, hard court and grass. Some players prefer playing on certain surfaces or take more time to adjust from one surface to the next. Make sure you know who the in-form player on each surface is.
• Indoors or outdoors? Just like the different surfaces, some players may have a better record when playing indoors than outdoors. This can often be because the weather also affects their game and some players may be more affected more by wind or cold conditions. In the 2012 US Open final, Novak Djokovic got frustrated by the strong wind while Murray used it to his advantage.
• Ranking points can play a part in a player’s motivation or state-of-mind. The top players often find it easier to get motivated for the Grand Slams and may be better prepared physically and mentally for these events. Conversely, a player desperate for points to enter the top eight and to reach the World Tour Finals may find an extra gear in the lower ATP 500 or 250 events.
• The event location can also have a bearing on a player’s performance; some players play better in their home country and others have favourite venues around the world. Find out who plays well in which event before placing your bets.
• A player’s fitness can be determined by many factors including the amount of sets they have played the week before, how far they have travelled and how well they recover from any injuries they may have suffered throughout the year. After a major injury or operation, a player may take many months to regain form and fitness and in some cases they struggle to reach their previous level at all.

Head to head

Once you have dealt with these external factors and how they might affect the individual players, you then have to look the head-to-head statistics. Start by looking at the overall statistics and then break it down again to surface, location, type of opponent etc. You will now be a good position to make a judgement on each individual match and also on the overall tournament.

Betting companies will give a bewildering amount of options for tournament and match betting, so try a find a bet that follows a trend that has been backed up by your research. Once you have done this, check the best odds that are available – in some cases the odds may not make the bet worthwhile.

Popular Tennis bets

With so many betting options available, let’s start with some of the more popular bets:

• Predicting the outright winner in a tournament may seem like a fairly basic option but tennis is one sport where good statisticians do well in this area. Using the external factors listed above; looking at historical results; and examining who each player might face in their section of the draw can give a shrewd gambler a good idea of who the outright tournament winner will be.
• Tournament progress prediction is a good betting option when the outright winner is either too tough to predict or so obvious that the odds are not worth taking. Betting on how far a player reaches can also be a good choice when a statistically good challenger is likely to meet a top player at a certain tournament stage.
• Who will serve the most aces? There are plenty of stats to tell you which players are serving well and who they serve well against. Some slightly lower-ranked players like Ivo Karlovic serve a huge number of aces while other top ten players like David Ferrer are not big ace scorers. Also remember that some players serve better against left-handers than others, so take everything into consideration.
• Handicap betting is very popular in tennis mainly because the top players come up against rank outsiders on a fairly regular basis. When the odds are too short, look at the handicap options and find a balance you are happy with.
• In-Play betting is becoming more and more widespread in the world of tennis. It allows you to get a feel for the match quite early on and see if it is heading the way your research has predicted. This can give you the final confidence you need to seek out winning bets. It can also allow certain scenarios to play out where the outcome is more predictable; for example, there are certain players that start well but struggle to finish games off – you could take advantage of this by betting against them when they are winning and the odds are in your favour. With In-Play you can also bet point-by-point during games so you can bet on in-game trends for certain players.

It’s all in the mind

The final and often major influence on a tennis match is mentality. Some players cope with situations like bad shots, missed break points and dropped sets much better than others. By getting to know the players mentalities, we can gain an advantage and spot key instances of momentum change which is particularly useful for In-Play betting.

It can also pay to keep an eye on changes in coaching staff and practice partners. These are the factors that could transform a player’s season when things are not going too well. Just take a look at how Andy Murray’s record improved when he was coached by Ivan Lendl. These kinds of changes are often down to a new coach’s ability to manage the mentality of the player as well as improve their technical approach to the game.