3 Things You Need to Know Before Betting on Tennis

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If you’ve been reading Line Calls over the last 12 months, you’ve probably noticed that we’ve been winning a lot more than we’ve been losing. We pride ourselves on the attention we put into each breakdown, as every match requires its own individual assessment. But there are some betting fundamentals we use across the board, which have proven valuable over time.

In this special edition of Line Calls, we want to give you an idea of how to go out and make your own best bet. Here are three things to pay close attention to before gambling on any tennis match, particularly for betting novices:

1. Recent form

With tennis such a mental sport, it’s important to find out whether the player you’re backing is in a good headspace. One way to do that is by looking at a player’s recent matches. If a player is on a five-match winning streak heading into a meeting with an opponent that has lost three of their last five, this is a battle between two players that aren’t exactly thinking the same. The player that has been winning is entering with a lot of confidence, knowing that they can go out and win matches if they simply keep playing well. But somebody that hasn’t been successful is second-guessing everything. Make sure you try and find a player that is confident—and, just as important, healthy.

2. Record on surface

Looking at a player’s record on hard, grass or clay courts is imperative when betting on tennis. There are highly ranked players that simply don’t hold up their end of the bargain on certain surfaces. Take Daniil Medvedev as an example. On clay, he could be a large favorite over a player ranked outside of the Top 100, but the playing field could be leveled if that player is a clay-court specialist, given the former No. 1's struggles on on the slow surface. You should always make sure you’re seeing which player performs better on the surface at any given tournament. Not doing that is a surefire way to lose.

3. Head-to-head history

The final thing you’ll want to do when betting on tennis is look at the recent head-to-head history between the two players. Like we stated earlier, this is a sport that comes down to confidence, and it’s hard to believe in yourself if you have historically come up short against the person on the other side of the net. With that in mind, you’re likely better off betting on the player with the edge in a head-to-head series. It’s not an exact science, but it will generally guide you in the right direction if the sample size is larger than three matches.