Tennis is considered one of the most popular individual sports, with only boxing and MMA, where matches are held much less frequently, claiming the top spot among all competitors. In this discipline, there are actually doubles and even national team competitions, but globally, fans still support specific athletes rather than teams. This adds an element of unpredictability to this aristocratic sport, and the BetLabel administration will be happy to accept your tennis predictions.
Tennis betting
Features of tennis betting on the BetLabel website
To be successful in tennis predictions, you need to keep in mind the uniqueness of this sport. Unlike most popular sports, it is an individual sport: a tennis player can lose or withdraw before the start of a match simply because they have caught a cold, whereas in team sports, they would simply be replaced. This adds a special unpredictability to each match: you cannot know how your favorite spent yesterday evening, how they are feeling, or whether they are currently experiencing psychological problems. The concept of bench depth, which is critical in betting on other sports, is completely absent here.
Tennis is played on different surfaces, and this can fundamentally change the balance of power in a particular pair of opponents. There are tennis players who are considered recognized specialists on a particular surface – hard, clay, or grass – while on an alternative surface they become a pale shadow of themselves. Ignore this nuance, and you risk losing your bet, even if you are confident that you are betting on the clear favorite because they have a much higher rating and a better head-to-head record!
The issue of motivation is relevant in any discipline, but there are not many other sports where the difference between tournaments involving the same athlete would be so pronounced. A simple example: just one successful performance at a Grand Slam tournament or even on the ATP/WTA Tour (especially the 1000 series) can maintain an athlete’s top ranking for the entire following year, even if they do not compete at all after that. At the same time, winning a conditional challenger is, of course, a noticeable bonus for more modest tennis players, but for the top level it is a trifle, and ITF series tournaments are even more modest. During the season, players participate in tournaments of different levels, building their own strategy for scoring points on an individual basis, so someone may simply warm up at a conditional ATP/WTA 250, saving their strength for a major, while others enter specifically for the likely title, knowing that higher-level competitions can yield more points and money, but no trophy.
After all, there are no draws in tennis—one of the players always wins. There is no fixed time limit, so there have been cases where a tennis player, having practically guaranteed their success in a match, relaxed and was punished with defeat.
It remains to be added that BetLabel’s tennis line includes up to 400 scheduled tennis matches in all major tournaments, but the exact number fluctuates constantly. This is due to the varying number of tournaments depending on the specific week of the season and their knockout format: at the beginning of the week, there are many matches due to the opening rounds, and by the weekend, only the decisive stages remain, but they may be backed up by qualifying rounds for future competitions, while on Thursday and Friday, the line is relatively modest. Due to the individual nature of the discipline and the cup system of tennis tournaments, the calendar is not formed far in advance: the dates of the competitions are known, but the specific pairs of matches usually become available only one or two days before the game, and sometimes even a few hours before.
Main types of tennis bets
Due to its specific nature, tennis does not usually involve truly in-depth betting: BetLabel offers over 200 markets for top matches, which is considered a flagship indicator for the entire industry. Anyone taking their first steps in tennis betting may find this number confusing, so we suggest considering the most popular options for betting on tennis.
Victory in the match and in sets
Betting on the winner of a match hardly requires detailed explanation: if you guess who will win the game, your bet will be successful. Since there are no draws in tennis, tiebreaks are never taken into account: whoever advances further in the tournament bracket (or scores a point for their team) wins, regardless of the score. It is no secret that in tennis, victory is determined by the number of sets won: it may happen that the player who lost 2:1 won more games, but this will not affect the outcome.
In addition to betting on the winner of the entire game, you can also predict the winner of a specific set. Such a bet makes sense when one of today’s opponents has a tendency to take a long time to get into the game, or, conversely, is aggressive at the start of the match but does not have great stamina.
Game and set handicaps
Games are the basic scoring unit in tennis: in fact, it is correct to say not 2:0, but something like 6:2, 6:4. This indicator allows for a more accurate description of the balance of power in the match, because a decisive 2:0 in sets could be either two „bagels“ 6:0, 6:0, or a wild battle 7:6, 7:6 with two protracted tiebreaks. The handicap you bet on shows that „your“ tennis player would win even if a certain number of games were taken away from him (this is how you bet on the clear favorite to increase the intrigue and betting odds), or vice versa, if this handicap is added to him (this is how you bet on the underdog, expecting them to put up a good fight).
Since tennis matches, with rare exceptions in certain tournaments, end with a score of 2:0 or 2:1 in sets, BetLabel does not accept bets on set handicaps, but you can bet on the exact score in favor of one tennis player or another.
Totals: number of games and sets
The total bet is tied to the number of games and sets, just like the handicap described above, but in this case, no one asks you to name the winner of the match—you just have to predict the overall statistics. In the case of tennis, this is essentially a prediction of the duration (competitiveness) of the match: will there be more or fewer games than a certain number, will the opponents limit themselves to two sets, or will there be a third?
Live betting
With BetLabel, you can place a bet on the outcome, handicap, or total even after the match has started. It is at this stage that markets for a specific set flourish: seeing how the match has started, bettors try to predict the development of the second set or forecast the total number of games. When placing live bets on tennis, it is important to remember that some matches, especially in women’s tournaments, are lost even after victory was within reach of a single match point and seemed inevitable. Also, keep in mind that the odds may change after you add them to your betting slip, so if you see favorable odds, place your bet without delay.
How to analyze a match before betting
To make an accurate prediction for a future match, you need to gather as much detailed and up-to-date information about the opponents as possible. The Statistics and Results sections, available directly on the website and in the BetLabel mobile apps, will help you with this: there you will see the current form of the opponents, how they played on different surfaces and in personal meetings, and you will be able to familiarize yourself with detailed statistical metrics for each match to find patterns. The latest news should be superimposed on previous statistics, which is now very convenient to obtain thanks to the athletes’ personal pages on social networks: this way, you will learn about the player’s current state of health and psychology. If you’re going to analyze, don’t rush: ideally, your assumption should be confirmed by a long series of identical or similar results, with no arguments in favor of this changing in the next match.
