Tennis tippers and bettors focus a lot of their attention on singles tennis for obvious reasons but if you are exploring newer markets in tennis betting, doubles tennis might not be such a bad option. Here we explore the tips and tricks to understand doubles tennis betting which will provide a basic guideline if you are looking to go ahead with it.
All tennis tournaments, ATP and WTA included, have a singles and doubles draw, although mixed doubles tennis is restricted to Grand Slams alone at most times (other than the Hopman Cup, which has been a mixed team event and Olympics). What we are looking to focus on here is betting on men’s and women’s doubles tennis action and this is a guide on how to go about putting your money on it.
Before we get down to tennis doubles betting tips, here’s a list of all the greatest tennis doubles teams in the men’s and women’s tennis world:
- Mike Bryan & Bob Bryan
- Martina Navratilova & Pam Shriver
- Todd Woodbridge & Mark Woodforde
- Gigi Fernandez & Natasha Zvereva
- John Newcombe & Tony Roche
- Serena Williams & Venus Williams
- Peter Fleming & John McEnroe
- Virginia Ruano Pascual & Paolo Suarez
Tennis Doubles Betting Tips
Know the Rules
Sounds straightforward, right? Of course. However, the reason we add this for doubles tennis specially is because there are different rules associated with doubles as compared to singles tennis, and we are talking about the point system. A final set Match Tiebreaker is in use at times, at others there are best-of-five sets instead of best-of-three, while mixed doubles have different scoring too. Different tournaments, at times, adopt different rules with respect to this final set, so it makes a lot of sense for you to have a quick glance at it before you start betting on doubles tennis.
Analyse Doubles Teams, Not Individuals
One of the most obvious reasons why most top singles players do not feature in doubles tennis is to reduce workload and prolong their careers but it must be quickly added two excellent singles players might not combine to make a great doubles team. Which is also why most of the doubles players aren’t the best singles players on their own but when combining with their partners bring out the best in them as a team.
What is often said about tennis doubles is the sum of parts of the two players needs to be greater than the whole for them to succeed as a team. And as a bettor, it is a must you look at such teams rather than looking at great, individual singles players.
The best way to proceed with betting in doubles tennis is to not just look at their individual doubles rankings but also if they have played together as a team for a reasonable time. For instance, current world number one Juan Sebastián Cabal’s regular doubles partner is Robert Farah with whom he has won two Grand Slam titles but if he enters a tournament with a different partner, it could be a tough call backing them even if they are the top seeds.
Doubles players usually complement each other. A strong server could partner with someone who has fast hands at the net and come away with solid performances despite being individually average tennis players. Also, it isn’t really an event for baseliners but good hands at the net is an important prerequisite.
In short,
- Check the doubles team record, not individual rankings
- Analyse if their styles complement each other
Do Surfaces Matter in Doubles?
In singles tennis, players are judged heavily by their performances on particular surfaces. You know players like Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem would do well on clay, while Roger Federer is grass-focussed and Novak Djokovic has a special affinity towards hard courts (even though they are legends across all the surfaces). How does it work in doubles tennis though?
It’s not too different in doubles as well. A case in point is the fact there’re very few players in the history of doubles tennis who have won a Career Slam – an event of winning all Grand Slams at least once in one’s career. Since the Open Era in tennis, there are only only 13 players (not teams, but players) who have won the Career Slam, and a few of them have won it with others in that very list.
So Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan have both done it, but obviously have done it together, counting as two players towards those 13. Same with the Woodies, Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge.
Conversely, take the example of Daniel Nestor, who won a Career Slam too but needed a change in partners to win at Wimbledon. He had a brilliant run with Mark Knowles at the other three slams, winning them all but when it came to Wimbledon his title came with a different partner in the form of Nenad Zimonjić. He won two of them at Wimbledon with Zomonjic.
In short, yep, surfaces play a huge part in doubles, as much as they do in singles.
How to Bet on Doubles Tennis?
According to Dan Weston writing for Pinnacle, it’s interesting to note that backing the strong favourites in doubles to win results in a loss for a one-year period between 2014 and 2015 and it should come as no surprise if something similar would be the case even for the years thereafter. What this implies is bookmakers are very smart in marking favourites in doubles tennis and conversely, the favourites in doubles tennis are living up to their billing well.
What is more pertinent is to look at the 2-1 set scoreline, which, if one were to look at all matches and not just those in which one side is a very heavy favourite, shows a figure of near 40% of all of them. This gives bettors a good opportunity to get into the Set Betting markets in doubles tennis.
You could look at the exact set scoreline or total sets market or even better still a set handicap, especially while betting on doubles matches that have one team a strong favourite.
Check What the Tennis Betting Experts are Saying
This includes us! Yep, we are looking to give more and more tennis betting analysis-based tips for doubles matches too, especially for Grand Slam tennis but other than that, we can recommend some of the top tennis tipping sites too. There are these tennis sites helping bettors which have been around for a while now with their tips and at least some of them dish out free doubles tennis tips as well.
Here’s our recommended list of nine tennis betting experts apps and sites that could help you get a fair idea on which doubles match to opt for while betting.
Some of these are free tennis tips sites while there are a couple on that list that also serves out premium betting tips which includes doubles matches. If you are willing to shell out a few bucks, there’s a list of premium tennis betting tips websites which we have compiled as well, which charge a monthly fee for regular singles and doubles tennis betting tips. Here’re our top recommended premium tennis tipsters.