Tennis

Tennis is a game of quick action, rivalries, tradition, and history. In a game filled with momentum swings, fans can feel the tides shifting with every point. Thanks to sportsbooks offering more betting markets for the sport, fans can also bet along with each point, set, and match.

Comparing online sportsbooks and their tennis betting markets

A huge aspect of betting on tennis is futures, and like all betting markets, it’s always in a customer's best interest to line shop for the best price across all of the apps with which they have accounts. The idea of price shopping goes beyond futures as well, as frankly, any betting market for the sport should be compared to other sportsbooks. By doing this, a bettor can always maximize their profit.

Now, all sportsbooks have strengths and weaknesses; some are typically better for tennis bettors than others. Starting with futures markets like outright winners for Grand Slam tournaments, we’ve found that Ceasars, BetRivers, and Bet365 have some of the best prices on the market for top players like Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, and Jannik Sinner.

As far as live betting goes, FanDuel is a good place to start for all tennis bettors. Now, when it comes to expansive betting markets for tennis, DraftKings would be the place to go. Overall, even if something is considered a strength for a sportsbook, that does not mean bettors should not check the odds for a given market in a few places. Why take an underdog on the moneyline at (+195) when you could get them at (+210) in a different shop?

Tennis and daily fantasy sports

It may not be the first sport you think of when talking about DFS contests, but tennis fans certainly do have the option to participate in daily fantasy contests. The sheer number of DFS operators that offer tennis contests is far smaller than a sport like football; in fact, there is only one available, which is DraftKings DFS.

With DraftKings DFS, tennis fans can draft lineups of six players from a given salary cap, which is almost always $50,000. A lineup can be drafted for either a cash game, which includes head-to-head matchups with other DFS players, or a guaranteed prize pool tournament, which revolves around trying to score the most points in the event to reach a certain level of payout.

The scoring for each contest will vary depending on if it is best of three sets scoring, or best of five sets scoring. However, best of five sets scoring is just for Men’s Grand Slam events. Players will accrue points by winning games, sets, and matches or by things like achieving a scoring ace, advancing by walkover, winning by retirement, and more. Just like other DFS contests for other sports, a great deal of research and using projections goes a long way into crafting the perfect team for a given tournament.

What kind of tennis bets can you place?

To the untrained eye, tennis may seem like a very simple sport, but much like betting on it, there are a lot of subtle intricacies that must be taken into account. To start off, the most basic betting market for tennis is the moneyline. Now, with tennis, bettors can take the moneyline for either the entire match or just for an individual set.

Outside of the moneyline, the betting markets for tennis could be complicated if a bettor has never wagered on the sport before. The next market we’ll look at is totals. Bettors can take the over/under on the number of games that will be played in a given set or in a given match. They can also find a total market for the number of sets in a match.

Across most sports, the three most common markets are moneylines, totals, and spreads. Tennis is no different, as there are spread bets available for each match. Like the first two markets we’ve touched on, bettors have two options for spread bets, they can bet on the spread for games or for sets. For sets, the spread could look something like “Carlos Alcaraz (-1.5) sets (-125),” and for games, it could look like “Jannik Sinner (-2.5)(-170).

With the three “primary markets” covered, we can delve into other markets tennis bettors may run into. The first is “set betting,” which involves betting on the exact finish of sets for a match, for example, “Coco Gauff 2:0 (+100).” Bettors can also bet on the exact score of a given set.

Last but not least is player prop bets and futures. For player props, bettors can wager the over/under on the number of games a player will win in a match, if a player will win at least one set, and the player to win the most games. Futures-wise, the most common future is betting on the outright winner for a given tournament. These bets can be placed either before or during each event.

Grand Slam tournaments

Similar to professional golf, professional tennis has four major events that are considered Grand Slam tournaments. These events are the most recognizable in the sport and have been won by some of the biggest names in tennis. The Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open are played all around the world on three different types of playing surfaces, making each one unique.

Now, achieving a grand slam in tennis is quite different than achieving one in baseball. To complete a grand slam in tennis, a player must win all four Grand Slam tournaments in a calendar year. Winning a Grand Slam title for singles or doubles is a big enough feat, but completing a Grand Slam in a calendar year puts a player in elite company. In the history of pro tennis, only two men and three women have completed a singles Grand Slam in a season.

There is also a Career Grand Slam, which just means that a player has won each Grand Slam tournament at least once. For Career Grand Slams, there have been eight men and ten women to complete this feat for singles. In doubles, there have been 25 men and 23 women to accomplish this. There are a few other ways for a player to complete a Grand Slam in their career, but these are the two primary ways. In the history of pro tennis, no player has won more individual Grand Slam singles titles than Novak Djokovic, who has won 24.

Australian Open

The first Grand Slam event of every season is the Australian Open, which is held in January of each year at Melbourne Park. This historic event has been in existence since 1905, but it wasn’t until 1988 that the tournament moved to the hardcourts of Melbourne Park, as it was previously a grass event.

Each Australian Open runs for two weeks and features men’s and women’s singles and men’s and women’s doubles. Like the rest of the Grand Slam tournaments, the best players in the history of the sport have played in it, but out of all those iconic players, Novak Djokovic is the all-time leader in singles titles with 10.

READ MORE: Australian Open Odds

French Open

In late May of each year, the top players in the world meet on the iconic clay courts of Roland-Garros for the French Open. Since 1925, the French Open has been considered a Grand Slam event and has produced some of the best moments in the sport's history.

Not only do the title winners of this event get to add a prestigious trophy to their trophy case, but in 2024, the total prize fund for this event was $58.1 million, which was 7.8% higher than the year before, according to Reuters. Of all the tennis players that have performed on the clay courts, Rafael Nadal has been the most successful with a tournament record 14 singles titles.

READ MORE: French Open Odds

Wimbledon

Even people who don’t follow tennis recognize Wimbledon. The third Grand Slam event of each season was founded in 1877, making it the oldest tennis tournament in operation. Played each year in late June/early July at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London, Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam event that is played on grass courts.

To hold its prestigious title, Wimbledon requires all fans and players to be dressed in all white and also only has advertising partnerships with iconic brands like Rolex and Slazenger. As far as the most successful players at Wimbledon go, Roger Federer holds the record for men’s singles titles with eight, and Martina Navratilova holds the singles titles record for women with nine.

READ MORE: Wimbledon Odds

US Open

The fourth and final Grand Slam event of each season is the US Open, which is played in late August and early September at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. The US Open is the second major that is played on hard acrylic courts, and it was founded shortly after Wimbledon in 1881.

Of the 22 outdoor courts available for the tournament, four are considered show courts. The main court is Arthur Ashe Stadium, which can hold over 23,000 people. In 2023, the US Open set the record for the largest prize money package in the history of Grand Slams at $65 million. In the post-amateur era of the event, Roger Federer is tied for the most singles titles with Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors who all have five titles.

READ MORE: US Open Odds

ATP & WTA

Even individual sports need governing bodies, and in tennis, the two most popular are the ATP and WTA. The ATP is short for the Association of Tennis Professionals, and it governs men’s pro tennis circuits, which include the ATP Tour, ATP Champions Tour, and the ATP Challenger Tour.

The ATP Tour consists of the ATP Masters 1000, ATP 500, and ATP 250. By winning events in the tour, players receive ranking points. These points are a 52-week rolling ranking, and they determine the world ranking and which players are qualified for certain events. While pro players also get points from Grand Slam Tournaments, those events are not run by the ATP but instead by the ITF.

The WTA is the governing body for women's pro tennis. Legendary pro Billie Jean King founded the WTA in 1973, and since then, the WTA Tour has grown continuously. The tour has three tiers: the top tier is the WTA 1000 Tournaments, which are ten mandatory events with prizes ranging from $2 million to $10 million; the second tier is the WTA 500 Tournaments, of which there are 17; and the final tier is WTA 250, which has 23 events, all of which have prize money set at $250,000.

Davis Cup

Tennis is not a sport one would think of when they hear team sport. Now, there are doubles, but that is still not a “team” in the general sense of sports. However, once a year, international teams for men’s tennis meet in the Davis Cup, which is run by the International Tennis Federation.

In 2023, 155 nations entered teams into this event, the most nations ever entered the 124-year-old tournament. Back in 2019, the ITF changed how the event was played. Starting that year, the World Group played at one location for just one week. The host countries for these matches change each year, and before each event, the ITF ranks all the teams, which then determines their seed for the tournament.

The World Group comprises the best 18 national teams each year, divided into six round-robin groups. These teams play a best-of-three series with two singles matches and a doubles match. The rest of the nations play in three regional zones, and they play for either promotion or relegation across the five levels, with the first level being the World Group.