As is well known, the line-up for any tennis competition is determined in two ways. Firstly, it is the classical invitations and secondly, it is the selection through the qualification stages. During this selection process, absolutely every tennis player tries to make it through to the main stage in order to get the coveted berth. It is worth noting that such competitions almost always involve players of a fairly high level. It is very rare to find tennis players who do not make it to the top 50. Below we will look at the main patterns and differences.
Qualifying rounds for men
Let’s start with the men’s event. Clearly, the qualification stage is not the most interesting event, either for the fans, or for the athletes themselves. And that’s because absolutely all competitions take away the players’ strength, energy and emotions. When it is time for the main starts, some of the tennis players are no longer in the resource. It is often the case that members of the top 100 handle their opponents with ease and then save their energy for the main meetings.
The first round is a competition between athletes of completely different skills and rankings. Incidentally, this round is very interesting for tennis betting fans. After all, sometimes it can happen that a top-100 athlete can take on a lower level player on the court. Experts recommend making your predictions on exact scores or on a combined score of no more than 2.5 points. However, if players of roughly the same level are encountered, this should be abandoned.
Each player, before participating in the qualifying competition, has to obtain his own seed, which depends on his overall position in the international rankings. The seeded players qualify for the second round and then play for the coveted tickets. Remember that the first four strongest players always qualify further.
Let’s consider an example. In 2019 in Hungary, 7 seeded players won at once in the first 8 rounds. Rosol was one exception, but later he got injured and withdrew from the competition. As a result, the top four seeds have made it into the main event. It is on them that you can confidently place bets, having previously studied the types of strategies in tennis.
It is clear that the really strongest and most deserving players already make it to the final stage. Their character and willpower can only be envied as they return to the court again and again, whatever the outcome. It is worth noting that, even if the game was 2-0, each player still managed to win more than 10 games in total.
What is a wild-card and who gets one?
We will now talk about the individual athlete invitations from the tournament organisers. They are issued to the most famous players, spectator favourites and anyone who can make a show out of their game. Such invitations are usually called wild-cards. They can also be given to young promising players representing the country where the tournament is held.
It is worth saying that not all tennis players are able to live up to the organisers’ expectations, as the skills of these players cannot be compared with those of the titled and greatest athletes. This creates a great opportunity for bettors, they can confidently bet on an exact score of 2-0. The same is true in the women’s division.
Women’s qualifying rounds
Now let’s move on to looking at the women’s division. The situation here is radically different from the men’s category. Because the girls have a positive attitude towards the selection stage. And that’s because they see these competitions as a great opportunity to test their strength and level. This stage really helps many to win the strongest female athletes later on.
Talking about the peculiarities of women’s tournaments, they often come with erratic results. Due to psychology, the strongest girls, knowing they are superior to their opponent, go into the game without any attitude or tension. The weaker players, on the other hand, are very motivated and full of energy. They are ready to fight to the last.
As a result, it is very often the weakest ones who take the lead. When betting, you can also take this factor into account. Try betting on something other than the leader one day and see how high the odds end up being. There was a similar situation in 2020 in Doha. There, Daria Kasatkina lost the first game, but then pulled herself together and won.
As for the final rounds, it is extremely difficult for the girls to remain at the same high level throughout the match. That is why the decisive events most often take place in the middle of the game. No one wants to lose in the final stages, which is why all the games are very exciting. This is understandable, as every tennis player won’t want to drop out of the tournament. Betting on a final score of 18.5 will work well here.
Insurance is important everywhere
Understandably, every competition requires a certain degree of insurance against non-appearance of tennis players, for anything can happen in life. In such situations, replacements are immediately invited. These alternative players are those who have previously received tickets, but could not come to the competitions. In the men’s category, such replacement can be very strong and affect the overall outcome. However, in women, strong alternative tennis players are extremely rare.
It is worth noting that women’s pitches very often end in breaks. Athletes themselves very rarely show the same match score. Usually, one of the competitors takes the lead and tries to hold that advantage until the end. It is also interesting that in the main and final stages, there are a lot of breaks, while in the elimination series, on the contrary, there are none. By the way, there were 18 games in Gstaad in the qualifying round. And only 16 of them featured breaks, and that was in only one game.
To sum up, the stage of selection is radically different from the final rounds. While the men don’t like it, the women, on the contrary, use this great opportunity to warm up, train and test their strength. When it comes to betting, the type of betting also depends dramatically on the stage of the selection and even on the gender of the athletes. Before making your predictions, be sure to study all relevant information to avoid mistakes.