How To Bet On Tennis in the USA

In the 90’s it was Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi and then for the past two decades it’s been Venus and Serena Williams.  The United States has continued to produce tennis champions who have become massive stars across the country.  The US Open is a must see event every year and tennis popularity in the United States continues to be strong.

On this page I will outline the best betting sites for Americans, explain the most common tennis wagers, and provide a three step guide to getting your first tennis bet placed online.

Where To Bet On Tennis From The USA

These are our three recommended sportsbooks for Americans interested in betting on tennis online.  The tennis rules do vary between the sportsbooks, so check below the table to see the breakdowns.

Sportsbook Rating Bonus Review Visit
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  • SportsBetting and BetOnline
    • One full set must be completed for moneyline wagers to have action.
    • The full match must be completed for spread, total or prop bet wagers to have action.  **This doesn’t apply to wagers where the outcome has already been determined.
  • Bovada
    • The full match must be completed for all wagers to have action.  **This doesn’t apply to wagers where the outcome has already been determined.

**For example, if you bet on the first set winner and a player retires in the second set, the first set wager would not be affected.

You can use the tennis betting rules at the different sites to your advantage.  For example, place a bet on a player battling injury at Bovada rather than SportsBetting because if the player gets behind and retires late in the match the bet is void.

On the flip side bet against potentially injured players at SportsBetting because there is no knowing if they will be able to last the entire match.

**These are just two examples.  It’s very important that you factor in the sportsbooks tennis rules when making your wagers.

Tennis Bet Offerings

The vast majority of tennis bets are straight forward money line wagers on which player will win the match.  I’ll break down the money line odds below and also touch on spread and totals betting.

Money Line (To Win Match)

If you simply want to bet on which player wins the match then this is the bet for you.

The sportsbook will set odds for each player depending on their perceived chance to win the match.  With the American odds format the odds will indicate how much you will need to bet to win $100 betting on the favorite, or how much you will win by betting $100 on the underdog.  Here’s an example:

  • Roger Federer -220
  • Novak Djokovic +180

In this example Roger Federer is the favorite to win the match.  You would have to risk $220 to win $100 betting on Federer.

Djokovic is the underdog.  You would win $180 for every $100 risked betting on Novak.

Spread Betting (Games Spread)

  • Roger Federer -2.5 (-110)
  • Novak Djokovic +2.5 (-110)

In this example the spread is set at 2.5 games for the match.  This means Federer must win 3 or more games more than Djokovic to win the spread bet.  On the flip side Djokovic must either win more games than Federer, or be within 2 games.

For example, if the match ends (6-4, 6-4) for Federer then he would win the spread bet because the game totals would be 12-8.  However, if Federer won the match (7-6, 7-6) or (6-4, 4-6, 6-4) he would have only won 2 more games than Djokovic, so the Novak spread bets would actually win even though he lost the match.

Total Sets

  • Over 2.5 (+140)
  • Under 2.5 (-160)

This is a very straight forward over/under bet.  If the match is completed in two sets then the under bet wins, while if the match goes to a deciding third set then the over bet wins.

The odds associated with each outcome determine the potential winnings for each wager.

3 Step Guide To Betting On Tennis Online

Follow these three steps to quickly and easily get your first tennis bet placed online.

Step 1. Open an Online Sportsbook Account

First you will need to open an account with an online sportsbook.  Choose any of the three sportsbooks we’ve recommended above.

For this guide I will be using Bovada.lv as the example, because they offering the most tennis betting lines of our three recommended sportsbooks.  Bovada offers lines for every ATP, WTA, ITF and Challenger Tour match.  If there is a professional tennis match that you want to bet on the chances are you will be able to get action at Bovada.lv.

Click here to visit Bovada.lv.  Then click ‘Join Now’ and complete the registration form to open your account.

Step 2. Deposit

Bovada accepts Visa, MasterCard and bitcoin deposits.  By signing up through our link you will receive a 50% matching bonus up to $250 on your first deposit (no bonus code required).

You will need to redeem your welcome bonus by claiming it on the My Rewards page of your Bovada account.

Step 3. Place Your Bets

Select ‘Sports’ on the Bovada homepage and then select ‘Tennis’ from the left sidebar of the sportsbook.  From here I suggest finding the category you’re looking for in the ‘All Tennis’ drop down menu in the top navigation bar.

Continue to use the drop down menus until you find the tournament and event you are trying to bet on.  In the below example I was looking for the Dimitrov vs Goffin match from the Monte Carlo Masters.  I selected Tennis -> ATP Tour -> Rolex Monte Carlo Masters:

Check out our betting guide section for more articles to help you get started betting online.