Successfully trading on Betfair looks simple, lay at a price less than you back at and you win. Bigger this gap, bigger the profit. It is all about volatility trading and odds movement analysis. So bigger the volatility, bigger the chances you end up with a winning.
One of the sports with the highest volatility is tennis. In Grand Slam® tournaments players must win 3 sets of 5 to win the match. In competitive matches, where strengths of the opponents are similar, this is often a very long journey where anything can happen and fortunes of the players can change and overturn several times for the slightest errors or unfortunate injuries. An example? The Isner–Mahut match at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships holds the record for the longest tennis match both in time, 3 days, and games played, 183.
Odds can move dramatically in these cases, giving the smart traders multiple opportunities to profit, laying low for instance or backing high and waiting for the odds to break-even before making an opposite trade. Remember that each time the odds cross the starting price you backed or laid at, you win.
There are 2 main important factors to consider to properly analyse a live tennis match:
Statistics. It sees the match as a whole, an entity. It presumes a linear performance of the tennis players during a game and foresees a final outcome according to numerical facts and observations. Clearly this would be an approach too deterministic. However it is the correct starting point to initiate a bet. You will adjust your trade as the match advances.
Psychology and fitness. These can change during a match for several reasons creating volatility of the odds.
Also the court surface would be a thing to consider. This affects the performance of the tennis players greatly. One player can prefer clay, another concrete or grass. But statistics can generally include this factor in the models.