Betting 101: What it means to bet the spread

Betting on tennis isn’t always as straightforward as picking the winner. You can approach each match a few different ways, one being the spread.

Game Spread

The game spread refers to how many games the oddsmakers think the favorite will beat the underdog by. For example, in a meeting between world No. 1 Iga Swiatek and world No. 20 Karolina Pliskova, you might see the Polish star is favored to win by 4.5 games.

Using that 4.5-game example, Swiatek would need to win at least five more games than Pliskova for her bettors to cash in. That means that a 6-4, 6-4 win wouldn’t be good enough for those backing Swiatek, as that’s only a four-game difference. However, a 6-3, 6-4 win would do the trick. Swiatek could even lose a set and cover, if one of those sets is somewhat lopsided. That might look something like a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2 victory.

When betting the game spread, it’s important to know exactly how long your match is going to be. It’s a lot more difficult to cover a small spread in a best-of-three match, so you want to be very confident that the favorite can separate themselves quickly or the underdog has what it takes to hang around. Over the course of a best-of-five match, you tend to see less wackiness. That means that the right player will have a better shot at covering the spread, whether it’s the favorite or the underdog.

Set Spread

A set spread isn’t all that different, but it’s a little easier to grasp. If you take a player +1.5 sets in a best-of-three match, all your player needs to do is win one set. Vice versa, backing somebody at -1.5 sets would mean that they need to win in straight sets. And if it’s a best-of-five match, a -1.5 bet would mean that your player can only afford to lose one set. Or you could go for a 2.5-set spread and that would mean you’re backing a player to win three sets and not drop one.

Some sportsbooks will make set spreads even easier for bettors by simply offering things like “Player X To Win A Set.” If you continue to tune into our betting coverage, you’ll learn that these are some of our favorite bets. That’s because it can be a little intimidating to back an underdog to win a match outright. However, it still gives you the opportunity to go with your gut and put a little timber behind a player you believe in.