A Guide to Betting on Wimbledon

The tournament is played over two weeks in late June and early July, starting on the last Monday in June, with the finals of the Ladies' and Gentlemen's singles played on the Saturday or Sunday at the end of the following week.

Wimbledon, like the other Grand Slam events, has five different tournaments; the men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. In both singles events there are three qualifying rounds, after which there are 128 contestants who play in the main event. Following the round of 128, there are the rounds of 64, 32 and 16, before the quarter finals, semi-finals and finals.

Contestants who enter the qualifications all the way up to the winner each receive prize money from a purse of over £35 million, including a massive £1.7 million awarded to the winner.

Wimbledon has many traditions that are almost as famous as the tournament itself. All tennis players competing at Wimbledon have to wear all white or almost all white clothes with white shoes. The tournament also has a tradition of being attended by members of the royal family, who sit in the Royal Box. It is customary for players to bow to the member of the royal family when they enter or leave the Centre Court. Amongst the traditions, the most famous one is perhaps the eating of strawberries and cream. Many spectators who buy tickets to Wimbledon try out the legendary dish, in 2017 it was calculated that 34,000 kgs of British strawberries and 10,000 litres of cream were consumed.

How to bet on Wimbledon

Tennis is a fast paced and dynamic game that is always thrilling to watch, but it can be even more exciting to bet on. When it comes to betting on tennis, there are a lot of different options to make each of the smaller details in every game, set and match more interesting.

To Win

The most common bet placed is on one of the players or teams to win the match. This is a two way bet which can be placed on either of the contestants. The player or team with the lower odds is the favourite whilst the player or team with the higher odds will be the underdog.

Handicap of Games

Betting on the outright winner can bring good odds, but for higher odds, tennis fans can try to bet on games. Handicap of games is basically a bet where the total number of games won are compared, and a handicap can be set.

For example, there may be a handicap of -3 on one player, which means that they will have to win the match with 4 or more games won for the bet to win. If the player wins the game in four sets, with 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 and 6-4, then they will have won 18-16, which is only 2 games ahead. The bet will not pay, as they need to win by at least 4 games or more.

Handicaps are useful to place when trying to make more favourable odds, or even when using positive handicaps to reduce the risk of betting against the favourite.

Winner of Each Set

In Wimbledon, each match has five sets making a limited number of possible combinations of how the match can finish. The match can finish in three sets, 3-0 and 0-3, or four sets 3-1 and 1-3 or it can go to the last set 3-2 and 2-3. A bet can be placed on any of the possible outcomes.

The odds in the sets betting can be huge, especially when betting on a player or team to win in three sets. Betting on a match where there is a clear favourite playing a low ranking player, and betting on the match to go until the 5th set can also offer massive odds.

Over/Under Games

There are a few bets that are not connected with which player or team will win the match. Over/under bets will be based on statistics in the match such as how many games there will be, how many sets there will be, how many points in one of the sets and more. These bets are two way bets, where a value will be given, and a bet can be placed on whether the match will have more or less games, sets, points and so on than the value given in the bet.

More Bets

There are many more bets that provide an opportunity for tennis fans to profit from. There are bets such as how many deuces there will be in the first set, whether the underdog will win at least one set, who will win the first set and more. There are even bets for a player or team to lose the first set but still win the match. It is worth taking the time to look at all the available bets when planning a betting strategy.