Tennis Betting Guide & Odds

Postponements and cancellations were common during the 2020 professional tennis schedule and there are likely a few disruptions to come in the ATP and WTA tour schedules for 2021. That said, pro tennis has been played and will continue to be, albeit in limited locations and without fans in attendance.

Still, that means you’re free to bet on tennis at Indiana sportsbooks whenever a tournament runs and lines are posted. Indiana’s best online sportsbooks allow you to bet on everything from the winner of the next Grand Slam to the winner of the next point in high profile men’s and women’s tennis matches.

Read on for a look at all the different ways you can bet on tennis, the latest Grand Slam odds, and which of the state’s top online sportsbooks are the best places to bet on tennis right here in Indiana.

Best Tennis betting apps in Indiana

How to bet on tennis online

Whether you’re an expert tennis handicapper or have never bet on the sport before, Indiana online sportsbooks make betting on tennis quite simple. All you need is a funded sportsbook account, and you can bet on tennis matches and tournaments from all over the world.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Sign up

Click any link above to go to the Indiana online sportsbook of your choice. There, you can either download the sports betting app first and sign up for an account through the app, or sign up right on the sportsbook’s website.

You’ll need to provide a little personal information, like your name and the last four digits of your Social Security number, but the entire registration process shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.

There may also be a space for you to enter a promo code or bonus code. If there is one, you’ll find the code listed above. Enter it in the space provided and that will ensure you get the best new player bonus for your Indiana online sportsbook of choice.

2. Deposit funds

Beyond your initial free bets or bonus, you can deposit money into your account through the app or online sportsbook cashier. There will be a variety of deposit methods available, including credit and debit cards, online bank transfers, third-party payment processors, and cash at certain retail locations, like CVS and 7-Eleven.

Just choose one, enter an amount, and follow the prompts to make a deposit.

3. Place your bet

If you can click your computer’s mouse, or tap the screen on your phone, you can bet on tennis. Just browse through the tennis betting markets until you find something you want to bet on, and click or tap on it.

That’ll create a bet slip where you can enter an amount to bet, see the potential payout, and place the bet. You can also add more individual bets and choose whether to combine these bets into a parlay or leave them as single bets on the same bet slip.

Grand Slam tennis tournaments- 2021 schedule

Tennis has four Grand Slam events annually, where both men and women compete for the most prestigious titles in the sport:

Australian Open

• Dates: Originally scheduled Jan. 18 – 31, 2021. Reportedly moved to Feb. 8-21, 2021 and expected to include a 14-day quarantine period in Australia for all players ahead of the start.
• Location: Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia
• Playing Surface: Hard court
• Prize Pool: $49.1 million (2020)
• Men’s favorites: Novak Djokovic, Dominic Thiem, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer
• Women’s favorites: Sofia Kenin, Garbiñe Muguruza (2020 runner up), Serena Williams, Ashleigh Barty
• 2020 results: Held before the global COVID-19 pandemic with Novak Djokovic winning the men’s singles title and Sofia Kenin winning the women’s singles title.

French Open

• Dates: May 23 – June 6, 2021
• Location: Roland-Garros in Paris, France
• Playing Surface: Clay
• Prize Pool: €38 million (2020)
• Men’s favorites: Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic
• Women’s favorites: Iga Świątek, Sofia Kenin, Ashleigh Barty (2019 champion), Simona Halep (2018 champion)
• 2020 Results: Originally scheduled for May 24 – June 7, 2020, but moved to Sept. 27 – Oct. 11, 2020. Rafael Nadal won the men’s singles title for the 13th time beating Novak Djokovic in the final. Iga Świątek won the women’s singles title beating Sofia Kenin in the final.

Wimbledon

• Dates: June 28 – July 11, 2021
• Location: All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club in London, England
• Playing Surface: Grass
• Prize Pool: $49.4 million (2019)
• Men’s favorites: Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal
• Women’s favorites: Simona Halep, Serena Williams, Ashleigh Barty
• 2020 Results: Scheduled for June 29 – July 12, 2020, but canceled. The first time Wimbledon had been canceled since World War II in 1945.

US Open

• Dates: Aug. 30 – Sept. 12, 2021
• Location: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, New York City, NY
• Playing Surface: Hard court
• Prize Pool: $53.4 million (2020)
• Men’s favorites: Dominic Thiem, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer
• Women’s favorites: Naomi Osaka, Bianca Andreescu, Serena Williams
• 2020 Results: Originally scheduled for Aug. 24 – Sept. 13, 2020, but moved to Aug. 31 – Sept. 13, 2020, and played without fans in attendance. Defending men’s and women’s singles champions Rafael Nadal and Bianca Andreescu did not compete. Dominic Thiem won the men’s singles title, his first Grand Slam title. Naomi Osaka won the women’s singles title, her second US Open win.

Indiana’s top online sportsbooks will have futures markets open ahead of each event where you can bet on the players you think will win the next Grand Slam tournament.

Guide to different tennis bets

The basics of tennis betting aren’t much different from other sports. Tennis players are seeded in men’s and women’s draws and play through basic single-elimination brackets in tournaments. That means the top-seeded players take on lower-seeded and unseeded players in the first round. The winners advance through the bracket until two players meet in the final with the title on the line.

You can bet on who will win the entire tournament, and every match within the tournament offers plenty of further betting opportunities. Here’s a look:

• Outrights: Bets on who will win an upcoming or ongoing tennis tournament. Tennis odds are adjusted based on each player’s chances ahead of and throughout the tournament. You lock in the currently posted odds when you place a bet.
• Moneyline: There’s moneyline betting on every match in a tennis tournament. You pick a winner and lock in the bet at the currently posted odds. Favorites have negative odds showing you how much you need to bet to win $100 plus your bet back. Underdogs have positive odds showing you how much you stand to win for every $100 you bet.
• Game Spread/ Set Spread: Bets where a game or set spread is factored into the final score to determine a betting winner. The favorite must win by at least the posted number of games or sets. Underdogs can win outright or lose by less than the posted number of games or sets.
• Over/Under: Bets on whether the total number of games in a match will be over or under a line set by oddsmakers.

What are the most simple tennis bets?

Betting outrights and match moneylines are the easiest ways to bet on tennis.

These bets are solely about picking winners and accepting the currently posted odds at the time you place a bet. There’s no need to concern yourself about the score or the number of games or sets a player wins by, just whether or not they win.

Outrights are concerned with the tournament as a whole and moneylines with each match, but betting on either is just about who wins, making these bets the most simple in tennis.

Live betting on tennis matches

Live betting allows you to bet on tennis matches that are already underway at odds that change with the action on the court. This is best done with an Indiana sportsbook app, where you can get down bets quickly before the odds and the action changes again.

Indiana sportsbooks post live betting odds on the same basic markets you find ahead of most matches. Plus, live betting brings even more betting opportunities into the fold, with set-by-set, game-by-game, and point-by-point betting as well.

Situational tennis betting rules

There are a few situations that may come up in a tennis match that impact betting. Check with your Indiana sportsbook of choice to see what specific tennis betting rules it employs and how it handles these different situations:

• Retirement: Players may quit in the middle of a match because of injury or something else. If you’ve bet on the match, you’ll want to know when the sportsbook you bet with considers a match complete. The answer may vary from after the first ball, to the first or second set, or until the entire match is done. All bets on the match may be returned if it is considered incomplete.
• Walkovers: An opponent may withdraw from the tournament ahead of a match, giving his or her opponent a walkover. Most of the time, this means all bets on the match are returned.
• Weather: Inclement weather can cause delays and postponements. Most bets stay live until the match is completed, but lengthier delays could cause all bets on the match to be returned.

Betting on the ATP and WTA Tours

The Grand Slams are the biggest events on the tennis calendar. They are part of both the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tours, but these tours also host additional tournaments throughout the year.

Indiana sportsbooks will likely post betting markets for all ATP and WPT events held in 2021. Unfortunately, both schedules may need to be adjusted due to the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic.

Here are some highlight events for the 2021 ATP Tour.

• BNP Paribas Open ATP Tour Masters 1000 (Postponed). Indian Wells, California. March 11-21. (Hard)
• Miami Open ATP Tour Masters 1000. Miami, Florida. March 24 – April 4. (Hard)
• Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. Monte Carlo, Monaco. April 11-18. (Clay)
• Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. Barcelona, Spain. April 19-25. (Clay)
• Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Rome, Italy. May 9-16. (Clay)
• Hamburg European Open. Hamburg, Germany. July 12-18. (Clay)
• Citi Open. Washington, D.C. August 2-8. (Hard)
• Rogers Cup. Toronto, Canada. Aug. 9-15. (Hard)
• ATP Finals. Turin, Italy. Week of Nov. 14. (Hard)

The early part of the 2021 WTA schedule would normally include a series of Australian Open warm-up events and the Australian Open itself. Since the Australian Open has now been postponed to Feb. 8, 2021, traditional warm-ups have been canceled, and the WTA Tour is considering adding tournaments outside of Australia to fill the gap.

The Australian Open is expected to include a 14-day quarantine period for players to enter the country, so the WTA is targeting the first week of January 2021 to host a season-opening event.

Here are some of the highlight scheduled events for the 2021 WTA Tour.

• Indian Wells Open (Postponed). Indian Wells, California. March 8-15. (Hard)
• Miami Open. Miami, Florida. March 22-29. (Hard)
• Volvo Car Open. Charleston, South Carolina. April 5-11. (Clay)
• Mutua Madrid Open. Madrid, Spain. April 29 – May 8. (Clay)
• Bett1open. Berlin, Germany. June 14-20. (Grass)
• Citi Open. Washington, D.C. July 31 – August 9. (Hard)
• Rogers Cup. Montreal, Canada. August 9-15. (Hard)
• Zhengzhou Open. Zhengzhou, China. September 13-19. (Hard)
• WTA Finals. Shenzhen, China. Week of Nov. 1. (Hard)

Betting on the Davis Cup

The Davis Cup is an international tennis series featuring teams representing their home nations. Qualifying is held around the world leading to the 18-team Davis Cup Finals.

The 2020 Davis Cup Finals were scheduled for Nov. 23–29, 2020 at Caja Mágica in Madrid, Spain, but were postponed until Nov. 25 – Dec. 5, 2021.

The 18 teams taking part are:

• Australia
• Austria
• Canada
• Colombia
• Croatia
• Czech Republic
• Ecuador
• France
• Germany
• Great Britain
• Hungary
• Italy
• Kazakhstan
• Russia
• Serbia
• Spain
• Sweden
• United States

You should be able to bet on the Davis Cup Finals at Indiana sportsbooks.

Betting on Olympic tennis

Tennis is an Olympic sport. The Ariake Tennis Park in Tokyo, Japan was scheduled to host an Olympic tennis tournament featuring the world’s top pros from July 24 – Aug. 2, 2020.

The tournament was moved to July 24 – Aug. 1, 2021, when the entire 2020 Olympics was postponed.

Tokyo officials are contemplating not hosting the Olympics in the midst of the pandemic, with Florida offering to host instead if the event is moved.

Olympic tennis is widely considered a fifth Grand Slam. You should be able to bet on Olympic Tennis the same way you bet on all tennis at Indiana sportsbooks.

Three tennis betting tips for beginners

Here are three tips for beginners that can be applied to betting on any tennis tournament:

1. Seeds matter

The top-seeded players face lower-seeded or unseeded players in the early rounds of a tournament and rarely lose. The tennis betting odds on lower-seeded and unseeded players are always attractive, but don’t get lured in by these prices. The true odds of these players winning against the best players on the planet are much greater.

The risk of betting on favorites is hardly worth it either, which means you should focus on outrights and futures early in a tennis tournament, not match moneylines.

2. Surface matters

Great grass-court players may be terrible on clay or struggle on the hard court.

Understanding who plays well, where, and on what surface can help you pick winners and see the potential for a big upset.

3. Injuries and form matter

Injuries can lead to poor performance or even withdrawal. Pay attention to what kind of physical shape players are in heading into an event and you’ll find a betting edge.

Dig a little deeper to find out who has done well in recent tournaments and that edge can grow even bigger.