US Open Tennis Betting, and we are closing in on New York and one of the most eagerly anticipated events of the year. US Open qualifying starts on the 23rd of August 2022 and runs through to the 26th of August 2022.
The main event and men and women’s singles tourneys kick off on the 29th of August and all eyes will be on the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows to see who will be crowned champion in both the men’s and women’s tournaments.
The US Open Championships have a long history and demand something different from a player as the hard court surface is of course very different from the grass and clay surfaces players encounter in other tournaments during the season.
The playing surface is produced from a technology called Pro DecoTurf. This multi-layer cushioned surface is classified by the International Tennis Federation as medium-fast.
An interesting fact is that every August before the tournament starts, all of the courts are resurfaced entirely to make sure the players have safe and optimum playing conditions.
US Open Men’s Tournament
This tournament has been won by many legends of the game but the name Richard Sears may not be on the tip of your tongue unless you are a real tennis historian. Sears won the first seven versions of the US Open from 1881 to 1887. More modern-day heroes of the court include Jimmy Connors (1972, 1974, 1978, 1982 and 1983) The great Ivan Lendl who won three consecutive titles between 1983 to 1985. Coming more into the modern day and Roger Federer won five consecutive titles from 2004 to 2008.
Rafal Nadal has won the title four times and is sure to be back again this year but the big news is that Danil Medvedev, the Russian will be there to defend his title. It has created some debate for sure.
US Open Women’s Tournament
Looking at the women’s tournament and that has no lesser a history with a list of glittering stars who have graced a tennis court winning the titles.
Chrissy Evert, the darling of the American public won the title six times including a run of four titles from 1975 to 1978 and who can forget the great Martina Navratilova who was a four-time winner in 1983, 1984, 1986 and 1987.
Of course, it would be disrespectful if we did not mention Billie Jean King who won the tournament as an amateur before going on to claim three more titles after, and who the famous US Open Tennis venue is named after.
The draw for the tournament will take place on the 25th of August and we’ll be looking to see if the qualifiers and lower seeds can cause an upset to the big names.
So is tennis a serious sport for punters to get involved in? Read on to find out more about the different types of tennis bets, and also check out the wide range of stats we have put together for you further down the page.
Men’s Singles Championship Contenders
Here we’ll take a look at the top 5 contenders for the US Open Tennis Championship title for 2022 and look at some of the recent form stats for each player.
Novak Djokovic – 6/4
Age: 35
Career Titles: 88
Djokovic is now ranked 6th in the ATP tour rankings and made his comeback to competitive tennis in May when he won The Italian Open when beating the young Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) It was plain sailing in the first set but his rival put up a stern challenge in the second set. He then went on to win in Italy before being beaten by Nadal in the quarter-finals of the French Open and then followed up with yet another Wimbledon title in July to beat Nick Krygios in the final.
Danil Medvedev – 9/4
Age: 26
Career Titles: 14
Now back on top of the ATP rankings at No 1, he reached the quarter-finals of the Miami Open in April but made an early exit from the Geneva Open the following month. He was then knocked out of The French Open at the fourth round before missing Wimbledon due to a ban on Russian players taking part due to government guidelines. Since then he has suffered two final losses in Germany and The Netherlands but was back to his best with a win at Los Cabos in August, and it will be interesting to see if he can defend his title this time around.
CARLOS ALCARAZ – 5/1
Age: 19
Career Titles: 5
Alcaraz currently sits in 4th spot in the ATP rankings and it has certainly been a sharp rise to prominence for the 19-year-old Spaniard. Has been playing well for the last year and won both the Barcelona and Madrid opens in his home country before being beaten at the quarter-final stage of the French Open. He followed that with a solid performance on the grass at Wimbledon but should be more at home on the US Open surface and rates a threat to Djokovic and Medvedev.
Rafal Nadal – 6/1
Age: 36
Career Titles: 92
Nadal has been at the top of the men’s game for the last fifteen years winning more than $128 million in prize money in that time. He has continued to defy the hands of father time and now aged 36 he still had the class to win this year’s Australian Open (Djokovic not allowed to play)
He also won in Mexico before being beaten in the final at Indian Wells in the BNP Paribas Open. And his recent victory at The French Open show he is still a force to be reckoned with.
He had to pull out of his Semi Final at Wimbledon with Nick Kyrgios and at present is a slight doubt for the tournament with a stomach muscle strain
NICK KYRGIOS – 8/1
Age: 27
Career Titles: 7
Only ranked 28th on the ATP list, He lost to Djokovic in the final at Wimbledon, but then followed that by winning the Citi Open in Washinton and is clearly coming into the US Open in top form.
A flamboyant, yet sometimes controversial player, the Australian is certainly a crowd favourite and adds that extra dimension to the tournament.
How To Bet On Tennis
As tennis has become really popular outside the usual western countries, then so has betting as well. With so many tournaments taking place around the world every week and fresh young players, hungry for success, turning up and causing upsets, the opportunity for bettors making profits from tennis betting is huge.
As you can see below, the site bet365.com offer betting on tennis in tournaments right across the world
Let’s take a look at some of these in more detail. As we get closer to the US Open tennis championships, all of the top sportsbooks and betting companies will have many different offers.
Tennis – Outright Match Betting
Below we have taken an example of a match at a recent ATP Tour event in Lyon and below you’ll see a match between Cameron Norrie and Alex Molcan
As you can see from the above screenshot, Norrie was a short-priced odds-on favourite, so is there a way of backing Norrie at a bigger price? This is where bet365 bet boosts come in handy for the tennis punter.
Bet Boosts
When you look at the betting for the above match, Cameron Norrie is an 8/13 favourite to win the match but with Bet Boosts you can get bigger odds if you include other match options as you can see below.
So in the example we show above, you can still back Cameron Norrie to win the match but you are also backing your judgement by betting that both players will serve at least 3 aces each. With that situation then Norrie is now 5/1 to win the match.
TENNIS BETTING MARKETS
Let’s look at some other common types of bets you can place on tennis. In this example, we are using Betfred to show you various tennis bets that you can place.
So to make a bet on tennis then follow the screenshot above and go to the tennis betting section at Betfred. You would just visit their main page, select All Sports from the menu on the left and then click the blue Tennis icon near the top. We have highlighted that in green.
Once you have reached that point, you’ll reach a page similar to the one below.
In the screenshot above, you’ll see a ribbon scrolling at the top with all of their special offers on the sport of tennis. However, we want to cover specific types of tennis bets in this part of the tutorial, so if we click on the “More” link, this will open up the area where we can choose which tournament we want to place bets on.
This example is showing the Betfred site but there are other big tennis betting sites like bet365, Betfair, William Hill, and others that offer different types of bets for tennis betting fans.
After clicking on Tennis you’ll reach a page like the one below. Depending on if the tournament is close to starting you may need to click either the “Ante Post” or “More” link.
So if we were to click on the US Open 2022 – Men’s link below, it will open up all of the betting options on that tournament.
If you are close to the tournament then match betting will be available.
So below you will see the main outright odds for the men’s tournament. For match betting for each round, you should visit your favourite betting sites after the 25th of August 2022 when the draw for the first round will be known.
Top Tennis Betting Markets
As we mentioned earlier in this post, betting on tennis has become very popular over the last few years, it’s because the bookmakers have realised they can offer so many different markets, which of course increases betting handle and in turn potential profits.
What the bookmakers did not realise though, was that tennis has lots of experts (tennis anoraks) who live and breathe the game, especially the statistics, and you can also become an expert in tennis by undertaking your own research and using data and statistics. So let’s look at a sample of the different markets available for betting on tennis matches.
Tennis Over/Under Betting
So here we are looking at the total amount of games in a match. This example is on a men’s match (so 5 sets). It means we have to calculate or judge how many games there will be. Taking into account that an average set is likely to be ten games (6-4) and a match is possibly won by 3 sets to 1 then that would be 40 games so the Over 31.5 here seems like good value.
However, you need to take into account who is playing and is it likely that the favourite for the match might win 3-0. This is a great potential bet if you study the different players.
Tennis Set Betting
So the next type of tennis bet we are looking at is set betting. In this bet, you will need to select the player that will win and forecast the set score. So in this match, the young Greek tennis star Stefano Tsitsipas was a strong favourite for the match and you can see he is 4/6 to win by a scoreline of 3-0.
So it may pay to look at our previous bet on games where Under 31.5 for the same match was 5/6
Tennis Total Games Odd/Even
This is a simple bet to grasp. Here you are choosing if the total number of games will be odd or even.
Let’s look at an example. If the match was won by the favourite in straight sets then the score could be 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 so that means a total of 30 games so, of course, it is an even number. On the other hand, you might see a match go to five sets and the score may be 6-4, 6-7, 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 so that means a total of 55 games so of course an odd number.
A simple bet to understand and similar to betting red or black on a roulette table.
Tennis Set Handicap Betting
Now, this type of bet is more about showing your knowledge of tennis rather than just chance. Here we can bet on a single set in the match and the player has a handicap of 1.5.
So the favourite Tsitsipas has a minus of 1.5 sets and the outsider Musetti has a plus of 1.5. You can choose to back either player.
So let’s say we want to back Tsitsipas at minus 1.5 and he wins the match 3-0. This means we deduct his 1.5 from the 3 sets he has won which means he has won the match by 1.5 sets and we have a winner at 1/5. This would be the same if he won the match 3-1. We minus off 1.5 which means the score is 1.5 – 1 so he is still the winner.
Now let’s say we back Musetti at +1.5. If he wins the match then we win, but we can also win even if he loses the match. If he loses 3-2 then we add the handicap of 1.5 to his set score and then the match is 3 – 3.5 so we have a winner.
Tennis Game Handicap Betting
Similar to set betting handicaps but in this type of bet, we are looking at betting on the total games in the match and the player has a handicap of 7.5
So the favourite Tsitsipas has a minus of 7.5 games and the outsider Musetti has a plus of 7.5 games. You can choose to back either player.
So let’s say we want to back Tsitsipas at minus 7.5 and he wins the match 3-0 and the set score is 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. This means there has been a total of 27 games in the match and the game score is 18 – 9 to Tsitsipas.
We minus off 7.5 games from the favourites score which leaves a score of 10.5 – 9 so backing the favourite would mean your bet is a winner.
Now let’s say we back Musetti at +7.5. If he wins the match then we win, but we can also win even if he loses the match 3-0 and the set score is 5-7, 4-6, 3-6. This means there has been a total of 31 games and the score in games is 12 – 19. Although Musetti has lost the match 3-0 and has won seven fewer games than Tsitsipas we still have a winner.
If we add our +7.5 handicap to the 12 games he won, the game score then comes out at 19.5 – 19 in favour of Musetti.
This bet can be very profitable, and looking at past matches between the two opponents is a great way to find value bets on tennis.
Tennis Set Betting
One of the advantages of betting on tennis matches is that there are many different bets you can place. Because the game is fluid and something is always happening, then you can place bets on many different outcomes. Bookmakers now offer something called “fast markets” and we’ll cover those a bit further down the page.
Set betting gives you the chance to back a player to win a specific set. As you can see above, Musetti is 100/30 to win the first and second set, however, if he were to win that first set then his odds to win the second set may well drop as he would have that edge from a psychological perspective.
However, if he were to lose that first set then his odds to win the second set would be bigger than 100/30.
Set betting in tennis gives you the opportunity to bet based on actual events up to five times during a match.
Tennis Total Sets Betting
This is an interesting market as it gives you the option to make one of three choices. Of course, men’s matches have a maximum of five sets and of course a minimum of three.
Now you might think in this example that Tsitsipas is a strong favourite and will win 3-0 so you will get a much better price 8/15 than the price of 1/14 that he was priced up to win this specific match.
However, you could maybe look at “dutching” two results. Dutching is a betting strategy which involves spreading your stake over a number of selections to win the same amount of profit no matter which one of your bets is successful.
As an example, let’s say we want to back 4 sets and 5 sets and our combined stake is £10.
So if we staked £6.57 at 12/5 and the other £3.43 at 11/2 then we get the same return whatever the result.
Our return on either bet is £22.32 so a profit of £12.32 on any result. All we need to win this bet is for Musetti to win at least one set.
Tennis Fast Markets – What Are They And How Do They Work?
We covered the main types of markets available for tennis betting earlier on this page, and we also referenced the term “fast markets” so what are they?
We are sure many experienced tennis bettors will know what these are but we wanted to cover them and explain what they are and how they work.
NEXT POINT WINNER
The most common “fast market” is the next point. So the player who is serving will always be the favourite to score the next point. A point happens roughly every 30-60 seconds in tennis, sometimes even quicker, so a punter could be betting every 30 seconds for a couple of minutes.
As you can see above we have a 4/11 favourite who is the server and the receiver is priced at 2/1
NEXT GAME TO DEUCE
So this is another fast market bet that runs over a single game and you are betting Yes or No as to whether the non-serving player will win the game.
As you would expect, NO is a strong favourite here at 1/6 as it is often unlikely that a game is won to deuce (0)
SERVER TO WIN TO 0 OR 15
This fast market bet is similar to the above “Next Game To Deuce” market but factors in the receiver at least gaining a point.
The server in this example was not the most fancied of the two players so for this particular game you could back the server to win to 0 or 15 at 9/4.
This is what is unique about these fast market bets as you have to take a number of factors into consideration
MATCH RACE TO X GAMES
So in this fast market, you will see bookmakers having a race to a certain number of games. That might be 3, 4, 6, 9 or in the example below it was 10 games. This market is normally available multiple times during a set.
At the time we took this screenshot this match was in the first set and it was 4-4 with Anisimova set to serve which is why she was the favourite in this market
Women’s Singles Championship Contenders
Here we’ll take a look at the top 5 contenders for the US Open Championship title for 2022 and look at some of the key form stats for each player.
Iga Swiatek – 11/4
Age: 21
Career Titles: 9
The young Polish sensation keeps pushing the boundaries in the women’s game and has now reached the pinnacle of the women’s game, and as of the time of writing, she stood at the top of the world rankings.
2022 has been a huge breakthrough year for Swiatek as she has won 6 singles titles including Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Germany, the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in March and also the French Open before finally being beaten in the third round at Wimbledon. That loss has seen a downturn in form but she still heads into the US Open clear at the top of the women’s rankings.
SIMONA HALEP – 9/1
Age: 30
Career Titles: 24
Halep has now won an incredible 24 titles in an outstanding career and the thirty-year-old Romanian now sits at No 6 in the rankings following her win in the National Bank Open in Toronto in August 2022.
She also reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon as well as the semi-finals at Indian Wells in March when beaten by Swiatek in the BNP Paribas Open. She comes into the US Open in tip-top form and should be in the mix at the latter stages of the tournament.
NAOMI OSAKA – 12/1
Age: 24
Career Titles: 7
The Japanese player who is now ranked 39 in the world has had a torrid year with injuries and that continued in August when she was forced to withdraw from her first-round match at the National bank Open in Toronto.
Back and Achilles injuries have limited her competitive appearances and it remains to be seen if she even takes her chance after also pulling out of Wimbledon earlier in the year.
COCO GAUFF – 11/1
Age: 18
Career Titles: 2
The young American is on a good run of form without actually winning and is now ranked at number 12 in the WTA listings. She has beaten some big names in the early rounds of recent tournaments, but her whole game has not clicked. Being on home turf and her national tournament could see her make a run as she did earlier in the year at the French Open when beaten by Swiatek in the final.
Her form since that loss has been steady rather than spectacular so it will be interesting to see how she gets on here.
ELENA RYBAKINA – 16/1
Age: 23
Career Titles: 3
The 23-year-old from Kazakhstan is now ranked 25th on the WTA leaderboard and heads into the US Open having won the title at Wimbledon and her confidence will be sky high heading into another major tournament.
She went out very early in her next two tournaments. Probably a hangover from that immense success at Wimbledon. She seems to have got her form back on track heading into this tournament and at 16/1, she rates a solid each-way bet to possibly pull off what would be a memorable major tournament double.
Ten Unique Facts About The US OPEN TENNIS Championships
- In 2006 the US Open became the first major tennis tournament to allow players to challenge close line calls with the assistance of the now famous hawk eye technology.
- The U.S. Open is the only Grand Slam event of the four to use a tiebreaker at 6-6 in the final set. Wimbledon recently decided to add a standard tiebreaker at 12-12 in the final set after seeing some momentous sets over the last few years. The Australian Open and French Open still use the traditional format where it requires a player to win by two clear games in the last set.
- Billie Jean King threatened to boycott the event in 1973 to encourage equal prizemoney for both men and women. This led to her being hailed as a pioneer in the women’s game. Tennis became the first sport and the U.S. Open became the first Grand Slam to install a system of equal prize money for men and women. the rest is history and now the venue of the US Open is now named after the pioneering King.
- Tiffany & Co. has been the official producer of the U.S. Open Trophy since 1987.
- Arthur Ashe was the only African American male to win the US Open in 1968. The Arthur Ashe stadium which was constructed in 1997, and added a retractable roof in 2016. The stadium is the largest tennis stadium in the world, seating 23,771 people.
- All courts at the US Open are the colour blue to aid the players and officials in seeing the ball clearly.
- Arthur Ashe, who is a legend of the game won the U.S. Open in 1968, but he could not accept any prize money due to his status as an amateur (he was a serving lieutenant in the U.S. Army at the time) and this made him a true legend in the eyes of the American people.
- The longest women’s match in the competition’s history—in terms of the number of games—occurred in 1898 (before the institution of tiebreakers), when the five-set match between Juliette Atkinson (the winner) and Marion Jones extended to 51 games.
- During its history, the US Open has been played on three different playing surfaces and a unique stat is that Jimmy Connors is the only player to have won on all three (quite a feat)
- Chrissy Evert is the only woman to have won on two surfaces, winning six U.S. Open titles (1975–78, 1980, 1982)
CONCLUSION
This year the US Open Tennis Championships will be taking place at the height of summer and the men’s tournament looks to be one of the most highly anticipated for many years with the young guns Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas sure to be serving it up (no pun intended) to the current champion Danil Medvedev as well as the old guard of Djokovic and Nadal.
Iga Swiatek is a strong favourite for the ladies’ title at 3/1 but has lost her form a little, and Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina will be looking to double up her major tally for 2022, but on this totally different surface will we maybe get a surprise winner?
If you are placing a bet on the tournament then make sure to hunt around for the best odds and don’t forget you can bet each way at 1/2 odds for reaching the final.