Bet Sports

In the world of online sports betting, the two most popular niches are that of football and tennis. With the emergence of several new tennis icons, handicappers wanting to bet on a new sport have turned away from soccer and instead looked at the clay court. For the bettor who has never gambled on a tennis tournament before, here are a few tips to help you get started.

The most common type of tennis bet is called a heads up bet. In a heads up bet similar to the money line for team sports, fans are required to pick who they believe will win the game outright. Recall, the negative integer sign in front of a player's number means that they are the favorite to win the match outright. On the other hand, the plus integer signifies that the player is the underdog. Here is how it appears.

Roger Federer +300

Rafael Nadal - 200

In this example, fans betting on Federer to win the match outright would have to wager $100 to get back $300. If Federer wins his match with Nadal, bettors win $400 ($300 for the win and your original $100). On the other hand, if fans betting on the match took Nadal, they would be required to risk $200 to get back $100. Since Nadal is favored to win, you have to risk more to get back less, since you are making the safe bet. Similar to the Federer outcome, if Nadal wins you would get back $300.

Another type of bet that is common amongst tennis handicappers is that of the sets bet. Similar to totals betting, your goal as a bettor during a sets wager is to predict if the game will be less or more sets then what the sportsbook predicts. Here is how it appears.

Roger Federer + 279 +1.5

Rafael Nadal - 250 - 1.5

In order for fans betting on Nadal to win the match, they need him to win the match either four sets to one or three sets to nothing. Any other outcome, allows for fans betting on Federer to win the bet outright.