Best Tennis Betting Sites

The bookmakers with the best tennis betting prices tend to be the ones who have been long-established in the industry. We can start with the big names who were around, prior to the birth of the internet, and that means Coral, Ladbrokes and William Hill.

In the modern, digital age they have been joined by the likes of Betway and Unibet who were among the crop of early online bookmakers. Once again, those should be familiar names to the tennis betting community but there are some new bookies to consider too. Vbet have been rising up the popularity charts and we can also throw in names such as 10Bet, SportNation and RedZone. If you’re looking for consistent value from your tennis bets, we suggest checking out those options as their odds should always be competitive.

Which Bookmakers Offer the Best Tennis Odds?

What are the most Popular Markets?

Most bettors still like to favour the most obvious option by taking a bet in the match result markets. Tennis is a sport where surprise results are relatively rare and while the odds on the big favourites can be short at times, those results can be easy to predict if we compare with other sports such as golf or football.

Because of that, some punters like to get involved in handicap betting in order to improve those odds but there are plenty of additional options.

Tennis is all about point scoring so lots of prop bets revolve around this. Correct score betting is very popular and this can apply to both the overall match score and the score inside individual sets.

Live betting adds in extra options such as next set winner and even, if you’re quick enough, next point. We’ll run through some tennis bets in more detail shortly but this is a sport which gives you many options.

Which Operators Offer Virtual Tennis?

Tennis is a sport which is played for most of the year but, if you find yourself with a blank day or you can’t find any interesting bets out in the real world, you could always take a look at virtual tennis. Virtual sports aren’t offered by every bookmaker, however, so you need to choose an operator carefully.

Of those who do provide virtual tennis as part of their overall sportsbook offering, Coral are always highly rated while BetFred also score highly in reviews. You can also check out those established bookies such as William Hill and Ladbrokes. Of the newer names, LVBet and EnergyBet come highly recommended too.

Tennis Bet Types Explained

As we’ve mentioned, tennis is a sport that provides many betting options and here is our guide to the most popular markets.

To Win

This is the easiest option to explain and it’s the place where most tennis bettors start. In a match situation, it’s all about picking the player who you think is going to win. In tennis, there is no room for a draw or tie so it’s just a straight pick between two players.

To Win bets can also be applied for long term markets such as outright tournament winner.

Set Score

In any professional tennis match, the player who is the first to reach six games will win the set. There is, however, a proviso that there must be a clear, two-game margin and a tie-break will apply if the players are tied at 6-6.

Whatever happens, there is a wide set of Set Score markets and, as the name indicates, your job is to decide what the overall score will be in a specific set. Bookmakers will list all the options, right through from 6-0 to 7-6 so, while it’s not the easiest market to predict, there is some good value to be found if you can call it correctly.

Over / Under – Total Games in a Set

Once again, this is a bet that should really be self-explanatory. Here, we are looking at an individual set and deciding on how many games will be played before it is decided. As we have already seen, the minimum number of games needed is 6 while the maximum is 13.

When bookmakers open this market, they will set a number of lines from 6.5 up to 12.5 and your job as the bettor is to decide whether to stake above or below one or more of those lines.

Race To

With a Race To bet, the task is to bet on which player you think will be the first to reach a certain number of games within a set. It could be three, four or five depending on the bookie in question and you then have to select between the two opponents.

In-Play Betting and Live Streaming

Individual tennis matches can take hours to be settled so there is plenty of scope for live betting. From the time when the very first ball is hit, those in-play markets will open and you can start to find some value among the live play.

All of the bets that we list here will be available in the live markets. So, if you are looking to take a punt on match winner, correct score, set score, winner of next set or more, those will be listed. Obviously, the list of options will start to tail off once the match starts to draw to a close but the point is that tennis is a great sport where live betting is concerned.

Lots of tennis is televised these days but another benefit of signing up with a bookmaker is the potential to access live streaming. Not all bookies do this but it is a big advantage when they do. Unibet are known for having one of the best services around but all of the big sportsbooks, including Ladbrokes, William Hill and Coral, will have this type of service.

Usually, you will be expected to have funds in your account in order to access the live streams while other bookmakers will insist that you have placed a bet on the event that is being screened. Policies differ in this respect so be sure to check on the terms and conditions.

Bonus Offers, Promotions

Tennis is such a popular sport around the bookies that you should always be able to find a host of offers and promotions attached to it. In order to compete, sportsbooks need to keep their prices competitive while those bonuses just help to give a bit of added value.

Any promotions that are specific to tennis may only come around when the big tournaments are in play. Tennis features four ‘Grand Slam’ tournaments – Wimbledon, the US Open, The Australian Open and the French Open – and this will be a busy time for offers of this kind.

Otherwise, you can check your specific bookmaker and look to see if they have generic offers that can be used for any sport – including tennis. Accumulator bets are very popular among the tennis betting community so keep a look out for acca boosts and acca insurance deals that are prevalent in the industry.

In summary, it is possible to find regular offers which can be used for tennis betting while for specific promos, there are possibilities but things will get especially busy when those Grand Slam tournaments come around.

Tennis Betting Strategies

As with any sport, there are a number of betting strategies that can be used in the tennis markets. We would stress that nothing is ever going to be foolproof but some of these suggestions might just be worth checking out.

The first of these involves two bets – one in the ante post markets, followed by an in-play equivalent. Firstly, the punter needs a find a match where there is a clear favourite and the ante post bet then involves a small wager on the outsider.

Once the match begins, the bettor waits to see if the stronger player goes 2-0 up in the first set and if this happens, they bet heavily on the favourite. The idea is to stake in such a way that a profit is guaranteed no matter what the result might be.

The second of our strategies relates exclusively to the live tennis betting markets and it involves betting on the total number of games (Over or Under) in a set. Before you act, you will need to watch the first game of a match to see how it develops. If there are more than 10.5 games played in the set, stats show that in 70% to 80% of cases, the next set will involve less than 10.5 games. Follow that first set and, if appropriate, act accordingly.

Finally, many tennis punters simply like to back the favourite on every occasion. It’s not exactly the most original of strategies but, as we have seen, tennis is a game of few upsets. Of course, those favourites will not win on every occasion so there is a bit of maths to be carried out. If you are betting on the shorter priced of the two players and they happen to lose, you simply move on to the next match and double your stake. The theory is that sooner or later, a favourite will come through and you will claim an overall profit.

Facts, Tennis Bets FAQ

Total Match Games

This is a prop bet favoured by many bettors who come to tennis and it’s an easy concept to follow. There is the possibility of playing at least 39 games in a three set tennis match while, at the other end of the scale, it takes a minimum of 12 games to win.

In between those two numbers, is a whole set of figures which can be required to win a match and, as a punter, you have the opportunity to take a bet in this respect. It may be possible to find bets relating to the exact number of games but in all probability, it will be a case of finding a set of lines and betting Over or Under one of those lines.

Game Handicap Betting

Handicap betting is popular in a number of sports and tennis is no exception. In this case, we are literally ‘handicapping’ one of the players by giving his or her opponent a head start in terms of games or sets. Having done that, we need to bet on the original player to win, while overcoming that notional disadvantage on the way.

As we mentioned, tennis can be a game with little in the way of surprise results so this can be a good way of getting better value on one of the favourites. Nearly all bookies will publish odds in the handicap market so, if you are experienced with this type of bet or are interested in getting involved, the options should be easy to find.

Lose First Set, Win the Match

To round off, we come to another bet that should be self explanatory. Here, we are looking for a specific player to win the match after losing the first set.

Remember that outside of those Grand Slam events, the majority of professional tennis matches – both for men and women – are played over the best of three sets so it’s a tough test for the player to come from behind and win but it’s certainly not a rare event. This option is ideal if you think you have found a player who is a slow starter and it can carry some generous odds at times.