If you like betting on tennis, you’ll surely like betting on the US Open. Here’s your guide to choosing the best US Open tennis betting sites, a rundown on the most popular markets available and some tips that will hold you in good stead when it comes to putting your money down.
The US Open is the fourth and final Grand Slam on the tennis calendar, and just like the Australian Open, it’s played on an outdoor hard court. As is the case with all major tournaments and the Grand Slams in particular, it attracts plenty of interest on the wagering front with increased TV and live streaming coverage plus the presence of the world’s best players, meaning there’s no shortage of US Open tennis betting going on at sportsbooks all over the world.
With that in mind and assuming you want to get in on the action, let’s talk you through what you should know about the year’s final Slam and which betting markets on it are the most popular. Finally, we’ll round things off with some useful tips that apply to both betting on the US Open and tennis in general.
US Open Tennis Betting: What to Consider When Choosing a Sportsbook
The US Open has been going since 1881 and takes place at Flushing Meadows in New York, lasting two weeks between late August and early September. In addition to the men's and women’s singles, there are also doubles, mixed doubles and competitions reserved for junior players.
Though the day’s early matches start at what is late afternoon in the UK, it’s similar to other sports competitions in the US, like the NFL and NHL, in that it’s one for the night owls in the UK, with matches in the evening session taking place in the small hours in Europe. US Open tennis odds on the winner market(s) are generally available months in advance, though, of course, you’ll have to wait for the draw to be made for individual games to be priced up.
Here are a few things to look out for when choosing a sportsbook from the list of US Open tennis betting sites.
- Live streaming: Dedicated TV sports channels generally only show one or two matches at a time, so if you want to watch the match (especially if it doesn’t involve the biggest names) when doing your US Open tennis betting, you’ll want to bet at a Sportsbook that has live streaming of most, or all, matches.
- Odds Boosts: That extra bit of value is crucial to your P and L, so betting sites that consistently boost their US Open tennis betting odds, especially when it comes to the star names, are the ones to be playing at.
- Specials markets: Every sportsbook will have the likes of the match winner, set betting and handicap markets for individual matches. But if your niche when it comes to tennis are specials markets like most aces, total tiebreaks or whether a player will win a match 6-0, you need to make sure the sportsbook offers those ones, too.
Popular Markets for US Open Tennis Betting
Time to discuss some of the most popular markets to wager on at the best tennis betting sites, just focusing on the outright markets here, rather than the ones for individual matches.
Winner Market
As we said already, the winner market US Open tennis betting odds for the men's and women’s singles are often available almost a year before the tournament begins.
Look out for Odds Boosts on these as they’re a good example of where US Open tennis betting sites choose to boost their odds on a couple of the favourites in a bid to attract more business.
The men’s winner market at the US Open is particularly unpredictable and can, therefore, lead to some big-priced winners: the last five editions have produced five different winners.
To Make the Semi-Finals
Of course, backing a big outsider and watching him/her make the semi-finals against all odds, only for them to then fall at the Last 4 stage or even the final, won’t see you get paid out.
So, instead, you could play it a bit safer by just backing your player to make it past the quarterfinals. A good strategy here might be to look for a reliable player at a decent price with a good record in the US Open who’s in the weakest quarter of the draw.
Just last year, 20-year-old Ben Shelton came from nowhere to make the semis, so you would have had a great win on him if you’d backed him to make the semi-finals.
Most Aces
Even though we had five different winners in the men’s event over the past five seasons, they were all big names: Nadal, Thiem, Medvedev, Alcaraz and Djokovic.
But the winner of the most aces market can easily come from players ranked much further down in the rankings. In the past, the likes of Ivo Karlovic and John Isner often won this market despite rarely getting past the quarterfinals. Whereas the eventual semi-finalists might serve six or seven aces a match as they progressed, these huge servers could easily be serving 30-35 aces a match, so you can see how they’d need to play far fewer games to still serve the most aces in the tournament.
Tips for Betting on US Open Tennis
Let’s round things off with some top tips that will put you on the right path to success.
- Big servers have an edge: This isn’t quite as big a factor as when betting on Wimbledon, but it’s important nonetheless. With the exception of Rafael Nadal, all of the last five men’s winners were big servers. Those Flushing Meadows hard courts can be pretty quick, especially when the weather is particularly warm, and the ability to bail yourself out of trouble with an ace or two a game is priceless. Outsiders with big serves often rate as good bets against weaker servers in individual matches.
- Hot weather/late finishes: Given it’s late summer over in the US when it takes place, temperatures can reach dangerously high levels for the afternoon matches, meaning players who often suffer from heat-related fatigue or sunstroke might be vulnerable, especially during longer matches.
- Similarly, matches sometimes finish as late as 3 am, so those with a poor record in matches that finish that late might be ones to oppose.
- Tie-breaks are rare in the women’s final: We haven’t spoken too much about the women’s draw so far, but now is the time. The last eight finals have been a mixed bag, with five being won in straight sets and three going to a decider. But just one of those eight finals, Iga Swiatek’s win over Ons Jabeur in 2022, had a tie-break. If you can get decent US Open tennis betting odds on ‘no tie-break’, it’s worth a bet, with history on your side.
- Beware the delayed pictures: This is true of all live betting on any sport but is particularly relevant in tennis. TV or live-streaming pictures can sometimes be delayed by as much as 30 seconds meaning what you’re seeing might well be what’s already happened! Test your pictures to see how delayed they are, and to keep on the safe side, only place live bets during sets or during the change of ends when nothing is actually happening.
