Tennis Betting Odds

There are no such betting restrictions used on tennis betting today as there were in the middle ages and the options for betting on a tennis match now would be inconceivable to those betting in France at that time.

However, with a huge choice of options comes the tough decision of which online bookmaker you should choose when betting on tennis. There cannot be a betting website in operation which does not offer odds on tennis matches, as this is one of the most popular sports for betting. What it does mean is the job of finding the best bookmakers to use for tennis betting is not always easy.

Below you will find our top five online bookmakers for tennis. You will find each of these bookmakers will have special offers to tempt you in signing up for their website. They may even have special offers on tennis and this will certainly get the attention. However, there are other, more important factors to consider when choosing a bookmaker for tennis betting.

Thanks to the development in technology and the increasing number of matches being played across the globe, tennis is one the top sports for online betting. The sport of tennis we know and love today originated from a different sport, called real tennis.  The game is thought to have started in France in the 12^th century but at the time the ball was struck with the hand, not a racket. Tennis rackets came into use in the 16^th century but it wasn’t until lawn tennis became popular in the 19^th century that the sport we see today emerged.

The Davis Cup, which is a men’s tournament contested by nations around the world originated in 1900 but it wasn’t until 1963 that the women’s version, the Federation Cup came into existence.  The tennis tour originated in 1926 and the open era, which we are in now, started in 1963 and this is when professional players could start making good money from playing tennis.

It’s difficult to trace the history of tennis betting but there is an interesting link between betting and scoring system used in tennis.

The number 60 was very important to the French in the middle ages and divided into four it produced the points used in tennis.  Many sports were used for betting in the middle ages in Europe and there were laws in Germany preventing bets being placed over the value of 60 Deniers.  The scoring system of tennis is believed to be linked to this.

As with any bet you are placing on a sporting or entertainment event, it pays to shop around when looking for the best odds for tennis betting.

There is nothing more frustrating having placed a bet on a tennis tournament or match to find better odds guaranteed elsewhere.  You may believe the differences will not be much between two online bookmakers but in tennis, you could be missing out on some seriously big winnings.

For example, take fan favourite Nick Kyrgios, who is 25/1 to win the French Open with Bet365.  His chances may be slim with Rafael Nadal in the draw but if the Spaniard continues to suffer injury problems, the tournament could become wide open. If you place the same bet with William Hill, you can get odds of 33/1 for Kyrgios to win the French Open. So, a £10 bet on Bet365 would return £260 while the same bet at William Hill would return £340.  That’s a difference of £80 in one £10 tennis bet.

Depending on which tour and tournament you would like to bet, tennis odds can differ between bookmakers. William Hill tend to come out on top for Grand Slam odds, closely followed by Ladbrokes while BetWay are good on the ITF and Challenger tours.

There are so many different tennis tournaments taking place throughout the year, you are never short of a tennis bet.  In fact, if you check most online bookmakers, they usually have a tennis match available almost every day.

While bookmakers are not particularly active when it comes to sponsoring tennis tournaments, you will find advertisements for bookmakers during tennis events on television.  However, the top online bookmakers for tennis have tournaments priced well in advance of the tournament itself.

At the start of the year, any serious tennis bookmaker will have odds for all four Grand Slam tournaments (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open) available.  Despite not starting until late August, good tennis bookmakers will have odds for the US Open available. Even following a Grand Slam tournament, such as the Australian Open, odds should start appearing for the same tournament next year.

You will have no problem finding betting sites which offer tennis odds but which have the best choice of markets and bets?

The top tennis bookmakers will have Grand Slam, ATP, WTA, ITF and ATP Challenger markets available whenever there is a tournament taking place. The likes of Bet365, William Hill, Ladbrokes and BetWay all cover these tournaments, with a good depth of markets for each match.

The main tennis betting markets every online bookmaker should cover include Tournament Winner, Match Winner, Set Betting, Total Sets, Total Games, Total Aces, First Set Winner, Tie Break in Match and Handicap betting.

If the bookmaker you are considering for tennis does not offer these on every match from the Challenger and ITF Tour upwards, you should look elsewhere. Coral are renowned for having a great choice of tennis betting markets for all levels of the game. William Hill, Betfair, Bet365, Ladbrokes and BetVictor also have a wide choice of tennis betting markets and in this respect, there is not a lot to choose between them.

If any sport has been made for in-play betting it is tennis and all the top tennis bookmakers will offer live in-play markets for every tennis match they cover. You will know a bookmaker is serious about tennis when they have live markets for Challenger and ITF Tour matches, in addition to the Grand Slam and major ATP and WTA events.

Tennis is a great sport for in-play betting because games can happen quickly, meaning you get a good turnaround of betting action but sets are long enough to allow you to bide your time and enjoy betting on tennis for hours.

You can bet on anything during a tennis match, from who is going to win the next set, the next game or even the next point.  You can continue to bet on who is going to win the match right up until the final point.

The best way to judge which is the best tennis in-play bookmaker for you is to try a few different ones and see which service is best suited to your needs.

Tennis is one of the most well covered sports for live streaming on bookmakers’ websites and they usually become available once you have made a small bet or have money in your account.  Live statistics are good but they are no match for watching a game live and getting a feel for the flow of the match and the mindset of each player.

Bet365, BetFred, Coral and William Hill offer good live streaming of tennis matches but you will also find many others available.  Those which closely match the betting markets as they change is usually the best option.

There are not many bookmakers which offer regular tennis bonuses and promotions.  You can use sign up bonuses and any general bonuses to bet in tennis tournaments and matches but once you have used these, new promotions to bet on tennis are often few and far between.

When the Grand Slam events are taking place, bookmakers may create some special offers in line with the tournament and others, such as Titanbet run a tennis accumulator bonus and this is always ongoing. Bet365 are also known for offering tennis accumulator bonuses.

One thing worth noting about tennis bookmakers, is not all will give you your money back when a player retires.  While this is not a bonus, if you bet on a short price favourite to win a match you do not want to lose the bet because the player retired.

Bookmakers including William Hill, Bet365, BetWay and Paddy Power will make all bets void if a player retires and William Hill and Paddy Power will do that if the match is not complete. This can happen when there is a disqualification for example.

Placing a good tennis bet involves all the factors above and if you are not getting the best odds, promotions, markets and betting choice from your tennis bookmaker, you could be missing out on a lot of money.

However, you should not focus only on these and there are other things which come into play when choosing a tennis bookmaker.

You should use the aspects below, in combination with the elements highlighted above to make an informed choice about your tennis betting and the bookmaker you decide to use.

When placing a bet on tennis you want the process to be seamless. Tennis is one of the most popular sports for betting and therefore you should have little trouble in finding an online bookmaker who has a high-quality website.

The homepage of your chosen tennis bookmaker should load quickly and the graphics and text should make the website easy to understand and navigate. While tennis betting markets may not feature heavily in the scrolling banners which are popular at the top of betting website, they should be easy to find.

Many online bookmakers have quick links at the top of their homepage and tennis should be one of the sports in this section. Therefore, there should be no need to scroll down the page to find the link to tennis betting markets.

As tennis is highly desirable for in-play betting, you should see live tennis matches available on the homepage of good quality tennis bookmakers. William Hill, Ladbrokes, Bet365 and Coral are good examples of websites with live tennis betting featured on the homepage.

Safe and efficient payment methods should be one of the top priorities of any online tennis bookmaker worth considering.

With in-play tennis betting so popular, having instant access to funds during a tennis match can be very important and you do not want to be waiting for your deposit to show up in your betting balance only to find the game, set or match on which you wanted to bet has finished.

Not all deposit methods will be instant due to their nature but good tennis bookmakers should offer credit/debit cards, Skrill, Neteller, PayPal and Paysafecard as instant deposit options.

Problems tend to be few and far between when betting at the top tennis bookmakers but you should always have confidence in the custom support team.

This means being able to speak to them 24/7, either via telephone or chat.

The customer support is not only there for problems and you may have a question about something else. It may be about making a deposit, understanding a tennis betting market or asking for special odds on a tennis match. Either way, you should be able to speak to a person always, especially if live in-play tennis betting is taking place.

Additionally, the bookmaker should have an email address and a postal address displayed on the website. There should be no need for them to hide the address of their main premises.

Having taken all the above into account prior to making a tennis bet, the final and arguably most important aspect is the trust of the bookmaker you are using.

The bookmaker must have a gambling license to operate legally and this should be clearly displayed on the website. If you cannot see evidence of the gambling license along with a license number, you should not place a tennis bet on this website.

The same can be said for the SSL Certificate, which guarantees all your financial transactions on the website are safe. You can find his in the top left of the address bar and it will be green.

Finally, you can usually rely on betting websites which pay for advertising space between live tennis matches on television. If they have the funds to promote their website for tennis betting on television, it is a good sign they must be doing something right.