If you’re thinking about learning tennis trading, you might have one concern before you’ve even placed your first trade.

“I don’t really follow tennis. Is that going to be a problem?”

The simple answer is no.

You don’t need to know who won Wimbledon ten years ago, memorise the ATP rankings or spend your spare evenings watching match after match. In fact, many successful traders came to tennis after trading other sports, such as football or horse racing.

What matters isn’t being a tennis fan. It’s understanding how the tennis markets are affected by what’s happening on court. Then we need to know the match situations that can offer us a trading opportunity.

Trading Isn’t The Same As Supporting A Player

Sports fans often watch a match hoping their favourite team or player wins.

A trader looks at the same match very differently.

Instead of asking, “Who do I want to win?”, a trader is asking:

• Is the favourite priced correctly?
• Could the underdog make this more competitive than the market expects?
• If one player goes behind, how can we take advantage of the market reaction?

You’re analysing the market rather than cheering for a particular player.

In fact, having a favourite player can sometimes make trading harder because emotions can influence your decisions.

You Don’t Need To Know Every Player

One of the biggest misconceptions about tennis trading is that you need to recognise every player on the ATP and WTA Tours.

You don’t.

Of course, the more experience you gain, the more familiar you’ll become with different playing styles and personalities. That happens naturally over time.

What really matters is learning how to analyse the matches you intend to trade rather than trying to become a walking tennis encyclopedia.

Learn How Tennis Matches Behave

Tennis is one of the most interesting sports to trade because momentum can change very quickly.

A player can look completely in control before losing concentration for a few games.

An early break of serve rarely means the match is over. Far from it

One player may dominate in the early games but their level can then drop and allow their opponent to recover.

These are the exact types of situations that create frequent trading opportunities.

Once you understand how tennis matches typically develop, you’ll start to see why the markets move the way they do.

Experience Comes Naturally

When I first started trading tennis professionally, I certainly didn’t know everything about every player.

I still don’t! There are always new players coming through the lower tours.

Over the years, I’ve watched thousands of matches, analysed countless statistics and continually refined my approach.

The knowledge builds naturally through experience.

You don’t need to learn everything before you begin.

That’s One Reason I Produce Daily Trading Tips

Every day I analyse the day’s matches. I look at every ATP and WTA match in detail and give a trading plan for each one. They are graded with a confidence level so you can see which trades I am favouring.

That means members don’t have to spend hours researching every match themselves. They can also compare their own thinking with my analysis, helping them understand why certain matches are worth trading while others are best avoided.

Over time, that process helps build confidence and develops the skills needed to make your own trading decisions.

Final Thoughts

Don’t let a lack of tennis knowledge stop you from learning to trade.

You don’t need to be a lifelong tennis fan or know every player on the professional tours.

What you do need is a willingness to learn how tennis matches develop, how the betting markets react, and how to approach trading with patience and discipline.

Those are skills that can be learned, and they’re exactly what I focus on throughout the TradeShark Tennis Trading Course and my daily Trading Tips emails.

FAQ articles

Can beginners learn Tennis Trading?

Why tennis trading is lower risk than betting

Why Trading Isn’t The Same As Betting

How To Manage Risk When Trading Tennis

What Makes A Good Tennis Trading Opportunity?

How Do I Know When To Exit A Trade?

When There Are Lots Of Matches, How Do I Choose Which One To Trade?

A very common question that I get asked is:

“How do you know when to exit a trade?”

It’s a fair question.

After all, opening a trade is only half the job. Knowing when to take a profit or accept a loss is just as important.

The truth is, there isn’t a single answer.

Every trade is different, and the best exit depends on the reason you entered the market in the first place and also how good that entry was.

The Exit Starts Before You Enter

One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is thinking about the exit after they’ve already opened a trade.

Experienced traders tend to do the opposite.

Before entering a trade, I already have a good idea of what I’m expecting to happen and what might cause me to close the position.

Having a plan removes much of the emotion that can creep in once the market starts moving.

You should actually have 2 plans. One for if the trades goes as you expected, and another plan for if it doesn’t.

There Isn’t A Magic Exit Point

Many new traders hope there’s a simple rule they can follow if a trade doesn’t go as planned.

That would be nice, wouldn’t it? If you enter a poor value trade and it goes wrong, just do x, y and z and get out for a tiny red.

It is not the exit that controls your loss. It’s the ENTRY.

If you wait for a good value entry point, you automatically limit your potential loss in the current set.

If you take poor value with your opening trade, you MUST be right about which way the market is going to move.

Every match develops differently, and the market reacts accordingly. You need to put yourself in a position to take a profit
while also factoring in the possibility that you might be wrong.

Trying to come up with one rule that suits every situation will just lead to frustration.

Let The Match Guide You

One of the reasons I enjoy trading tennis is that every match is different.

Of course, there are similarities but there are also so many variables

Momentum changes.

Players gain confidence.

Others begin to struggle.

Existing injuries.

Market perceived injuries.

Sometimes everything develops exactly as expected.

Sometimes it doesn’t.

Rather than trying to force every trade to follow the same pattern, it’s important to at least try to understand what the match is telling you.

I use the fluctuations in the in play stats for each player. They often give us a small insight into how a player’s level of play is developing.

Don’t Let Greed Make The Decision

We’ve all experienced it.

A trade is showing a healthy profit, but instead of taking it, we start thinking:

“I’ll just wait for one more game.”

Sometimes that works.

Quite often it doesn’t.

Allowing greed to make decisions can quickly turn a good trade into a disappointing one.

That’s why having a plan before you enter the market is so important.

Accept That You Won’t Catch Every Tick

This is another lesson that takes time to learn.

Many beginners become frustrated when they close a trade only to see the market continue moving in the same direction.

Don’t get me wrong, this never stops being frustrating. After 17 years, now I now laugh. I know there will be another match, Another trade.

The reality is that nobody consistently catches the perfect entry or the perfect exit.

The goal is to make consistently good decisions over hundreds of trades, not to squeeze every possible tick out of every position.

Sometimes The Best Decision Is To Take A Small Loss

Not every trade works.

That’s part of trading.

One mistake many beginners make is refusing to accept they got it wrong.

Instead of closing the trade, they hope the market will recover.

As soon as you’re staying in a trade for no other reason than you are hoping it turns around. EXIT.

Sometimes it does.

Sometimes it doesn’t.

You need a solid reason to stay in a trade. One that, if needed, you could explain it to someone sitting next to you

Accepting a small, controlled loss is often the decision that protects your trading bank over the long term.

A trade that ends in a small loss but in which you made good decisions, will not affect the decisions that you are going to make later in the trading session.

If you lose your mind and end up with a chunky red due to not following the rules, take a break. You are less likely to make good decisions in the next couple of hours.

Experience Builds Confidence

The more matches you trade, the more comfortable you’ll become making exit decisions.

You’ll begin to recognise familiar situations and understand how different matches develop.

With experience comes confidence.

Instead of reacting emotionally to every point, you’ll be making decisions based on your trading plan and what you’re seeing unfold on court.

Knowing what the “right thing to do” in any given situation is really helps your confidence.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that doing the “right thing” guarantees a profit though!

Final Thoughts

Knowing when to exit a trade isn’t about finding a magic formula.

It’s about preparation, discipline and understanding why you entered the trade in the first place.

No trader exits every position perfectly, and that’s perfectly normal.

The aim isn’t to catch every last tick.

The aim is to make good decisions consistently over time.

In my TradeShark Tennis Trading Course, I explain the thought process behind different types of trades and the factors that influence my exit decisions. Once you understand why a trade was opened, deciding when to close it becomes far more straightforward.

FAQ articles

Can beginners learn Tennis Trading?

Why tennis trading is lower risk than betting

Why Trading Isn’t The Same As Betting

How To Manage Risk When Trading Tennis

What Makes A Good Tennis Trading Opportunity?