Currently estimated at $203 billion, the ever-growing global sports wagering market employs over 200 thousand people working in 31 thousand businesses. Sports wagering revenue in the U.S. alone is expected to grow to a whopping $8 billion by 2025, and many other countries can boast a no less impressive increase.
The most loved games vary depending on the country, but almost everywhere, tennis is among the top wagering picks. Wimbledon, the WTA, the ATP, the French Cup, the Australian Open, the U.S. Open, the Grand Slam, the Federation Cup – there are so many top-rank tournaments to select from that you always have a choice.
But the huge wagering market itself is not a guarantee of your success – to make money consistently with wager on tennis, you have to be well-versed in the game itself, the type of wagers, the players’ conditions and psychology, as well as you have to have a mind of an analyst to make the right predictions based on the mentioned.
But as long as you keep putting one foot in front of the other – and with some initial help – you’ll get there. Down below, there’s an overarching guide on the main aspects of tennis wagering. The piece was prepared by Aleksandra Maj from KasynoHEX, so let’s just give some credit to the lady before we embark.
Select a Credible Wagering Site and Learn the Type of Wagers
Until the unceasing pandemic finally retreats, chances are you will have to place wagers online – for example, with Betathome or a reputable bookmaker alike. To choose a reliable wagering website, consider:
- License: the most credible issuers are the UK Gambling Commission, the Malta Gambling Authority, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, and the Government of Curacao.
- Software credibility: unless the site is provably fair, it has to be verified by eCOGRA or a reputable software testing agency alike.
- Payments: the more payment methods you have access to, the better. No commission and fast processing are a must.
- Bonuses: the more bonuses and the lower the wagering requirement, the better.
Then consider the type of wagers out there. If you’re new, you might as well be content with the standard bets – Match, Handicap, Winner, Over/Under, Outright bets, and In-Play bets. Most bookies support three formats of odds:
- Decimal – for example, 2.0 – showing the multiplier of your potential win for one dollar wagered.
- American – for example, +200 – showing the amount of your potential win for a hundred dollars wagered.
- European – for example, 2/1 – showing your potential profits compared to your bet (in the example, every dollar wagered would bring you two dollars).
And now the hardest part comes: how to make the right call? Generally speaking, the best bet would be the one that is estimated the worst by the bootmaker. For example, if you believe player A and player B have an equal 33.3% chance of winning/losing/drawing the match, but the bookmaker estimates it otherwise, then you can take advantage of it. This is how it works.
Try to Dissect the Upcoming Match Better than the Bookie
It’s insanely hard to outperform the bookmaker, but hard doesn’t mean impossible. Even though bookmakers are mostly professional analysts, they still can underestimate or overestimate the odds considering the amount of information they have to process daily.
Here are the main factors to consider before making a wager on tennis:
- Court surface. There are four main types of tennis courts – grass courts, artificial grass courts, hard courts, and clay courts – each of which with unique peculiarities. It might be counterintuitive, but the type of the surface can be a decisive factor when the opponents are roughly equal. Some favor grass courts, some love clay courts – to each his own.
- Weather conditions. When the temperature rises, so does the pressure inside the ball, which results in stronger bounces. On the contrary, humid weather slows down the heavier ball and changes the trajectory. Even the position of the Sun in the sky may favor one of the players.
- The score between players. It might be reasonable to take into account a few recent matches between the opponents since constant winning or losing affects the mental state.
- Left-hander or right-hander. Most right-handers try to avoid southpaws, simply because they have less practice against them. Some even claim lefties have an outright advantage over righties, but that’s debatable.
Once you’ve done your homework, you might want to see how things develop on the court – for that, there’s in-play betting in which the odds change as the match progresses. With that, it’s time to wrap it up. May luck be ever on your side!
