Online sports betting is not yet active in Florida. This page will be updated with the latest promos, news and odds once Florida sportsbooks launch.
The state of Florida has strong ties with tennis. It’s home to the prestigious IMG Academy, founded by Nick Bollettieri, and Miami is one of the locations of a Masters 1000 Series tournament.
Tennis fans in legalized betting states, including Florida, can now bet on tennis tournaments and top players throughout the year, from the men’s and women’s Grand Slams to the Davis Cup to ATP Challenger events and more.
If you’d like to try tennis betting but don’t know much about it, we’ll go over the key points below. You’ll find the best tennis odds at legal online sportsbooks, top tennis bets you can make, and more.
How to start betting on tennis online in Florida
Before you can place an online bet on tennis, you’ll have to create a sportsbook account and put some money into it. Here’s how the process goes:
- Head to the website for the Florida online sportsbook of your choice via the links above.
- Create an account by providing some details like your name, date of birth, address, etc.
- Go to the cashier page and follow instructions on how to complete a deposit.
- Claim the sportsbook promo or welcome bonus (if available) to extend your bankroll or receive some bonus bets.
- If you wish to bet on your phone or tablet, download and install the sportsbook’s app.
- Find tennis on the sportsbook’s list of sports (usually on the left-hand side).
- Explore the available bets and start creating your betting slip.
Basics of tennis betting
Tennis is an ideal sport for betting. Matches can last for a few hours and consist of several segments, leaving the opportunity to bet not just on the match winner but also individual games, sets, number of games and even winners of entire tournaments.
How to bet on tennis moneylines
The most basic tennis bet is the moneyline, where you aim to predict the winner of a given match. For instance, let’s say that Stefanos Tsitsipas is playing Reilly Opelka in the semifinals of the Miami Open. Tsitsipas has odds of -450, and Opelka has odds of +333 at DraftKings Florida sportsbook.
These numbers indicate how much money you could win from a correct bet. The favorite will have negative odds, while the underdog has positive odds. In this particular case, moneyline betting on Tsitsipas (the favorite) indicates that you would need to wager $450 for a chance at a $100 profit. On the other hand, backing an Opelka win would provide a $333 profit on a $100 bet if you’re correct. Of course, you can bet or win more or less than $100, depending on how much you wish to wager.
Tennis spread bets
However, moneyline bets may not be that interesting for matches with clear favorites and underdogs. In such cases, bettors may opt for game or set spreads. Following our example from above, Opelka, the clear underdog, may have a +3.5-game handicap.
This means that if you were to place a spread bet on him, he would need to either win more games than Tsitsipas during the match or win fewer games but still within three of Tsitsipas. Alternatively, you could bet on Tsitsipas at -3.5 games to win four or more games more than his opponent.
Tennis total games or set bets
Speaking of games, you can also bet on how many will take place in a given match. For example, FanDuel Florida Sportsbook may post a line of 22.5. You could then wager whether the number of games will be under (22 or fewer) or over (23 or more) the line.
Bettors will also have an option to bet on the total number of sets (two or three in the best-of-three match or three, four or five in a best-of-five match), correct score (2-0, 2-1, 1-2, 0-2, 3-0, 3-1, 3-2, 2-3, 1-3 or 0-3), over/under on games in the first set, total breaks of serve, number of aces, number of double faults and more.
Apart from these bets that relate to individual matches, bettors can predict the winner of a tournament, like betting on Novak Djokovic to win the US Open, for instance.
What are the best bets in tennis?
You can bet on numerous aspects of every tennis match, but some bets may be more appealing in terms of complexity and the overall chance of success.
The best advice for beginners is to stick to moneyline betting, as it’s the easiest to understand and follow. However, moneyline odds can be unattractive due to disparity in the skill level of the two players, unless you’re predicting a big upset.
Game spreads even the playing field and can be a good choice for when the match features a big favorite and a big underdog. If you’re unsure about the winner but think that there’s a good chance the match will go the distance, placing an over/under bet is a good choice.
Bets that you should try to avoid are the ones that are difficult or impossible to predict. For instance, many sportsbooks will allow you to bet on which player will serve first. Some players like receiving first, but most will choose to serve when they win the coin toss, so the bet here is literally that — a coin toss.
You can bet on individual points in live markets, but these are also quite hard to predict, especially if you’re not watching the match you’re betting on.
Live tennis betting
Online sportsbooks will have live betting options for almost every sport and event, including tennis. Live tennis betting allows you to place wagers during the match.
Apart from the usual bets we discussed, live betting will allow you to place additional bets, like point betting, correct score in a game after X number of points, current game winner, the outcome of the next two games, race to a certain number of games in the current set, etc.
Since live tennis betting is rather time-sensitive, you’ll need to have the markets open at all times. The best way to do so is by downloading and installing a sportsbook app on your phone or tablet.
Betting on tennis Grand Slams
Grand Slams are the biggest and most prestigious tennis tournaments. Being the only tournaments that last two weeks and where the matches have a best-of-five format, Grand Slams will pique the interest of many sports bettors.
Majors are where outright winner bets are most popular. You can bet on your favorite player to win the tournament or reach a particular round. If you place the bet early on, you will likely find some outstanding sportsbook odds.
Here are the key details of each of the Grand Slams:
Australian Open Odds
- Time of year: Late January, early February
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
- Primary court: Rod Laver Arena
- Surface: Hard
- Most recent men’s champion: Rafael Nadal
- Most recent women’s champion: Ashleigh Barty
- Most men’s singles titles: Novak Djokovic (9)
- Most women’s singles titles: Margaret Court (11)
- Prize money: $75 million (2022)
French Open (Roland-Garros) Odds
- Time of year: Late May, early June
- Location: Paris
- Primary court: Philippe Chatrier
- Surface: Clay
- Most recent men’s champion: Rafael Nadal
- Most recent women’s champion: Iga Swiatek
- Most men’s singles titles: Rafael Nadal (14)
- Most women’s singles titles: Chris Evert (7)
- Prize money: €42,661,000 (2022)
Wimbledon Odds
- Time of year: Late June, early July
- Location: London
- Primary court: Centre Court
- Surface: Grass
- Most recent men’s champion: Novak Djokovic
- Most recent women’s champion: Elena Rybakina
- Most men’s singles titles: Roger Federer (8)
- Most women’s singles titles: Martina Navratilova (9)
- Prize money: £40.35 million (2022)
US Open Odds
- Time of year: Late August, early September
- Location: New York City
- Primary court: Arthur Ashe Stadium
- Surface: Hard
- Most recent men’s champion: Carlos Alcaraz
- Most recent women’s champion: Iga Swiatek
- Most men’s singles titles: Richard Sears, William Larned, Bill Tilden (7)
- Most women’s singles titles: Molla Mallory (8)
- Prize money: $60.1 million (2022)
Tennis betting tips for Grand Slams
There’s no doubt that betting on Grand Slams is exciting, but this is only if you know what you’re doing. In other words, if you’re eagerly waiting for the next major, you better go in prepared. Here are some of the things to consider before making your first Grand Slam bet.
1. Consider the surface
The surface is rather important in tennis. Clay is generally a slow surface, hard courts are faster and grass is the fastest. Slower surfaces favor baseline players who like playing long rallies. On the other hand, faster surfaces benefit big servers.
2. Experienced players perform better at Grand Slams
Men’s singles matches at Grand Slams follow the best-of-five format. This leaves less room for upsets, as experienced players have more time to come back and win after a slow start. That’s why most men’s Grand Slam championships in the last several years belonged to the “Big 3” (Djokovic, Nadal and Federer), who’ve found ways to beat the younger competition.
3. Women’s singles are unpredictable
In men’s singles, you can expect most of the top players to reach the second week. However, women’s singles are much more unpredictable, with the potential for early upsets.
4. Wimbledon matches often go to tiebreakers
Wimbledon is the only major on grass, which, as we mentioned, is the fastest surface. Therefore, breaking a serve at Wimbledon is extremely difficult, so sets at Wimbledon often go to tiebreakers. Consider this when betting by looking at the players’ records in such situations, how they cope under pressure, their serve percentage, etc.
5. Mind the weather
Weather conditions are another vital thing to consider when predicting the outcomes of tennis matches. For example, the Australian Open often occurs in scorching heat, so the players known for their physical conditioning tend to perform better. Temperature and humidity can also affect the speed of the ball and its bounce, going in favor of one player or the other, depending on their play style. Also, matches in the wind tend to be unpredictable, as both players have difficulty controlling the ball.
Betting on the Davis Cup, Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic tennis
Unlike most tournaments where players perform for themselves, tennis has a few yearly team competitions where players compete under their national flags.
This is the case with Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup (formerly Federation Cup), essentially men’s and women’s tennis world cups. The matches occur between nations in a knockout tournament format and usually consist of four singles and one doubles match to determine the winner.
Tennis also takes place at the Olympic Games and includes five categories — men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
Sportsbook rules for tennis betting
The rules for tennis betting vary by Florida sports betting site, but some are generally the same across all sportsbooks:
- When a player retires before the match begins (walkover), all bets are void.
- If a player retires during the match, a sportsbook might consider the bet active depending on when the retirement occurred (after the first point, first set, first two sets, etc.). However, on some betting sites, the bets become void regardless of when the retirement occurred.
- Sportsbooks generally void spread bets and totals when either player retires during the match.
- If the match is postponed due to bad weather or darkness, the bet will usually remain active.