Tennis betting guide: Sportsbook betting promos, how to bet on tennis

Tennis betting is one of the five most popular sports wagered on in the world, and with a growing number of Americans betting on tennis, more tennis betting promos are popping up at top sportsbooks, especially for Grand Slam events such as the US Open, which commences on August 24, 2025.

Top tennis betting sites

Tennis is a year-round sport marked by those four Grand Slams: the Australian Open in the winter, the French Open in the spring, Wimbledon in early summer, and the US Open in the late summer. Those four generate the most tennis betting promos at sports betting sites. 

In this article, we'll seek to educate novice bettors on how to bet on tennis, including top strategies and betting market options.

Finding the best tennis sportsbook promos

Sportsbook promo codes and welcome bonus offers are available for new users to claim and apply to tennis betting. Here are the top sports betting apps: 

Finding the best odds for tennis betting

Bettors would be wise to have several different sportsbook accounts and check the odds across each before deciding where to place their bets. Aside from the sports betting promos listed above, tennis betting apps may also have boosts that give bettors more advantageous odds or payouts.

Even without promos or odds boosts, sportsbooks may have different odds, meaning bettors can find higher potential payouts by shopping around. Tennis sportsbooks may also vary in the specific wagers they offer.

How to bet on tennis

The first thing to understand in tennis betting, and online sports betting as a whole, is what the prices mean when you see a number in the tennis tab of a sportsbook with a plus or minus sign next to it. Plus-money odds tell you how much you will profit on a $100 bet. For example, +150 means you would profit $150 on a $100 bet. Minus-money odds show how much you need to wager to profit $100. For example, -110 means you have to wager $110 to profit $100. 

Let's discuss the most popular types of bets for wagering on tennis odds and what these tennis betting terms mean. 

Money line

Unlike many team sports where betting on the point spread is the most common wager, the money line is the preferred – and by far the most popular – bet type in tennis betting. In this scenario, bettors simply wager on which player will win, rather than the margin of the player's victory. 

For example, a player that is -200 on the money line to win a match is the favorite, and bettors earn a $100 profit for every $200 wagered if this player wins. 

Spread

Though less popular (and in many cases, less common) than money-line betting, spread betting is also an option in tennis betting. In tennis, spreads are in games won rather than points. For example, a top player such as Novak Djokovic may be favored by 6.5 games over a lesser opponent in a match. These odds are similar to a point spread. In this example, the spread would be Djokovic -6.5.

Total (Over/Under)

This refers to the total number of games required for one player to win a match. For example, if Djokovic beats an opponent 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in a major, the total number of games is 27. These "number of games" bets are also available for single sets.

Futures 

Futures bets are very popular in tennis, especially given the year-round nature of the sport. Odds can fluctuate based on a player's current form, leading to some opportunities for bettors to take advantage of long odds. Future bets are most popular for the four Grand Slams – the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open – but also for top non-Slam tournaments.

Check out the odds (last updated August 10, 2025) for the upcoming 2025 US Open, courtesy of DraftKings:

2025 US Open Men:

• Jannik Sinner +110
• Carlos Alcaraz +185
• Novak Djokovic +1200
• Jack Draper +1400
• Alexander Zverev +1600
• Taylor Fritz +2000
• Ben Shelton +2200

2025 US Open Women:

• Aryna Sabalenka +250
• Iga Swiatek +330
• Coco Gauff +600
• Mirra Andreeva +900
• Elena Rybakina +1400
• Naomi Osaka +1800
• Madison Keys +1800
• Victoria Mboko +2000

Prop bets 

Although not as common as wagering on props in NBA betting (or other team sports), prop betting is also available when betting on tennis, especially for the Grand Slams. Prop bets in tennis betting include "games won," "most games won," who wins the first set and much more. 

Parlays and same-game parlays

Like other sports, bettors can create different types of parlays in tennis, including betting on several winners across matches or betting on several parts of a same-game parlay (SGP). One example could be in a Casper Ruud vs. Daniil Medvedev match:

• Medvedev money line +140
• Medvedev to win the first set +120
• Ruud to win the second set -148
• SGP odds on FanDuel Sportsbook: +914

Note that in same-game parlays with correlated legs (Medvedev money line + Medvedev to win first set, for example), the SGP odds will likely be lower than if you plugged those same +140 and +120 odds into a parlay calculator. 

Those two odds create a +428 parlay using a calculator, but because winning the first set is highly correlated with winning a tennis match, the FanDuel SGP machine only offers +186. 

Betting on a Grand Slam

The Grand Slam events are the premier events in tennis. They feature 128 individual players on both the men's and women's sides, and they are, like with golf betting, the most popular tournaments in the sport.

Also like golf – and unlike team sports – the venues where the Grand Slams are held are very important, with playing surfaces varying:

• Australian Open: hardcourt
• French Open: clay
• Wimbledon: grass
• U.S. Open: hardcourt

Clay courts are slower, produce higher bounces, and are physically grueling. Rafael Nadal, a tremendously powerful athlete with a vicious forehand, dominated on the French Open's Roland Garros clay. The average ace hit per player is also the lowest on clay. 

Grass courts, on the other hand, play extremely fast. Roger Federer excelled here, with a bevy of shots and a strong net game. It is a statistical fact that there are more aces on grass courts, due to the fast surface. The percentage of points where the server wins is an average of 75% on grass, compared to 60-65% on clay. 

Hard courts are considered a neutral surface, ideal for baseline players who can defend; Djokovic is a prime example.

Live betting on tennis

Entain, which owns the BetMGM sports betting site, says tennis has attracted more live bets than football in the United States in each of the past three years.

Live betting is a very popular method of wagering in which bettors bet in real time during the match. It is extremely popular in tennis, where the fast pace, the changes in momentum and the regimented format – points lead to games lead to sets lead to matches – lend themselves to live betting.

One can gain several advantages from live betting. For example, it may give bettors an opportunity to hedge on their previous bets or double down. Furthermore, large payouts are a strong possibility, especially if a favorite goes down early but bettors still believe in the favorite to win. For example, Djokovic has eight career Grand Slam match wins when down two sets to zero. Furthermore, a bettor with a keen eye may notice trends that lend themselves to an advantageous betting position, one that may not have been readily available prior to the match.

Markets for live betting include the money line, spread, total games and others we previously covered. Additional options, such as player to win next point/game/set, next player to break serve, etc., may be available.

Tennis betting tips and advice

Knowing a player's strengths and weaknesses relative to the court is one of the most integral tennis betting tips. Some players may thrive/struggle based on the court. For example, Casper Ruud is considered a clay court specialist. He reached the French Open final in 2022 and 2023 and the semifinal in 2024. However, he has only made one other semifinal or final – the 2022 US Open final – in his Grand Slam career.

Furthermore, knowing a player's tendencies and strengths is very important. For example, if a player is a very strong server but not as strong in other areas, betting on a tie break may be advantageous. John Isner, who has never won a Grand Slam, has the most tie breaks won in men's tennis history.

It is also important to understand that in a year-round individual sport, performance can fluctuate. It's worth not getting too high or too low on a player and paying attention to not only how a player is playing at a given time, rather how they have played over the course of several months, how they have fared on different surfaces, and changes they have made in coaching or overall approach.

Betting on an individual sport vs. a team sport 

Betting on an individual sport like tennis is inherently different from betting on the NFL, for example, which is a team sport. Some bettors may prefer the more straightforward nature of betting on an individual, as there may be fewer factors to consider when contemplating potential wagers. 

However, there are advantages to betting on team sports. If an individual on a team is struggling, they have teammates who can step up, which may allow bettors to feel more confident in their bet. On the other hand, individuals have no one to fall back on if they struggle. 

As such, analyzing individual athletes' form is key for success in wagering on individual sports, whereas a more nuanced analysis of team-wide dynamics may be more important for wagering on team sports.