There are few things more enjoyable in life than finding a new sport to really get into. For some reason, you might have neglected it before, possibly finding it initially quite boring or uninteresting, or just simply never committing to a few hours to sit down and learn the rules
Take the NFL for example, a sport which is loved in the United States, but gets considerably less attention elsewhere. If you are not indoctrinated into it at a young age or don’t ever play it at school, it might be very difficult to come into it later in life, as the many rules are confusing, and the stop-start nature of the game can be a hard one to enjoy. However, purely speaking from personal experience, once I watched a game with an NFL fan, who explained not only the rules but what the coaches were attempting with their different plays, I was absolutely hooked, to the point I now lose a lot of sleep over the weekend to stay up to watch NFL matches.
The same can be said for tennis. Many people see it as very one dimensional and repetitive, making the funny claim that you could replace one of the players with a brick wall, and the outcome would be fairly similar. Of course, this is absolute nonsense. There is a good reason the game of tennis has endured for centuries and is one of the most viewed sports around the world. It is incredibly high octane and fast-moving, and the top players and wagering favourites such as Serena Williams and Roger Federer have achieved sporting domination that few others have in any sport.
Once you get into tennis, then it is worth taking the time to understand the best way to place wagers on it too. This is helped by how many tennis tournaments are held all year round, so wagerers never have to wait too long for the next match to find wagering odds on. Searches such as free tennis picks today are commonplace during one of the 4 major slams (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open) and it is a great time to get into tennis wagering if you’ve never tried it before.
There are certain tips that any would-be tennis wagerer should know about before they jump in head first with wagering on the sport. With the 2022 calendar absolutely packed with all the major competitions, read on to find out what you should be looking for, and what you should be avoiding when wagering on tennis once January comes around.
Research the players in depth
The wagering odds will usually give even the most amateur of wagerers a rough idea as to who is the favourite in any match up. However, they might not always take into account things such as matchups between the 2 players previously, or how well a certain player will do on that particular surface (some pros will favour the hard court, others prefer a clay court, whilst others do their best work on grass court).
Knowing this sort of information before looking for odds can really help you wager wisely, and potentially find advantageous wagers that other people might miss out on.
Form can only tell you so much
For top professional tennis players such as Novak Djokovic, they will often use the smaller tournaments before one of the major slams to work on their game and build up fitness. Of course, they will want to win, but probably won’t put in quite as much effort as they usually would in one of the big 4 tournaments.
So, with the Australian Open beginning on the 17th of January, don’t be put off wagering on the likes of Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev or Alexander Zverev if they aren’t in form before their first matches. They will likely come good and put in maximum effort just when they need to.
Go against the crowd
The scenes at the men’s final at the US Open in 2021 were quite extraordinary, as the crowd were so openly hostile towards Medvedev, that they were openly booing him in favour of Djokovic. It clearly didn’t work, as instead of putting the Russian off his game, it inspired him to a stunning straight-sets victory.
What we’re saying is, sometimes betting against the crowd favourite can be a smart move, as the opposing player could be extra motivated to show the fans up. Look for this at the French Open this coming May if Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is playing.
Time to ditch Federer and Nadal?
For so many years, fans would place wagers on Roger Federer and Rafal Nadal to reach the finals of the major tournaments. However, time has caught up with both men, as injuries look to have brought their careers to a halt. If either of them do appear at any of the big tennis events next year, it might be wise to bet against them, as strange as it sounds, because they simply aren’t the players they once were.
