The 1981 Australian Open was a

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

tournament played on

grass court A grass court is one of the four different types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis, originally known as "lawn tennis", is played. Grass courts are made of grasses in different compositions depending on the tournament. Although grass c ...

s at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in Australia. It was the 70th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 30 November through 6 December 1981 for the women and from 24 December 1981 through 3 January 1982 for the men.

Seniors

Men's singles

Johan Kriek Johan Christiaan Kriek (born April 5, 1958) is a South African-American retired tennis player and founder of the Global Water Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to delivering clean water to the world's neediest communities. He won t ...

defeated

Steve Denton Steve Denton (born September 5, 1956) is a former professional tennis player for the ATP Tour. He is currently the head men's tennis coach at Texas A&M University. After becoming an all-American at the University of Texas in 1978, Denton spent ...

, 6–2, 7–6^(7–1), 6–7^(1–7), 6–4 :• It was Kriek's 1st career Grand Slam singles title.

Women's singles

Martina Navratilova Martina Navratilova ( cs, Martina Navrátilová ; ; born October 18, 1956) is a Czech–American, former professional tennis player. Widely considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Navratilova won 18 major singles titles, 31 maj ...

defeated

Chris Evert Christine Marie Evert (born December 21, 1954), known as Chris Evert Lloyd from 1979 to 1987, is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. Evert won 18 major singles titles, including a record seven French Open titles and a joint-record ...

, 6–7^(4–7), 6–4, 7–5 :• It was Navratilova's 3rd career Grand Slam singles title and her 1st title at the Australian Open.

Men's doubles

Mark Edmondson Mark Edmondson (born 28 June 1954 in Gosford, New South Wales) is a retired Australian professional tennis player. Edmondson won the 1976 Australian Open while ranked 212th in the world, and remains the lowest-ranked winner of a Grand Slam t ...

Kim Warwick Kim Warwick (born 8 April 1952) is an Australian former professional male tennis player who competed on the ATP Tour from 1970–1987, reaching the singles final of the Australian Open in 1980. He defeated over 35 players ranked in the top ten ...

defeated

Hank Pfister Hank Pfister (born October 9, 1953) is a former tennis player from the United States, who won two singles titles (1981, Maui and 1982, Newport) during his professional career. The right-hander reached his highest individual ranking on the ATP ...

John Sadri John Sadri (born September 19, 1956) is a former tennis player from the United States. Sadri, an All-American at North Carolina State, reached the finals of the 1978 men's NCAA singles championship, losing to John McEnroe in four sets.https://w ...

6–3, 6–7, 6–3 :• It was Edmondson's 2nd career Grand Slam doubles title and his 2nd title at the Australian Open. :• It was Warwick's 3rd career Grand Slam doubles title and his 3rd and last title at the Australian Open.

Women's doubles

Kathy Jordan Kathryn "Kathy" Jordan (born December 3, 1959) is a former American tennis player. During her career, she won seven Grand Slam titles, five of them in women's doubles and two in mixed doubles. She also was the 1983 Australian Open women's single ...

/ Anne Smith defeated

Pam Shriver Pamela Howard Shriver (born July 4, 1962) is an American former professional tennis player and current tennis broadcaster and pundit. During the 1980s and 1990s, Shriver won 133 titles, including 21 singles titles, 111 women's doubles titles, an ...

6–2, 7–5 :• It was Jordan's 4th career Grand Slam doubles title and her 1st and only title at the Australian Open. :• It was Smith's 4th career Grand Slam doubles title and her 1st and only title at the Australian Open.

Mixed doubles

:''The competition was not held between 1970 and 1986.''

Juniors

Boys' singles

Jörgen Windahl Jörgen Windahl (born 12 March 1963) is a former professional tennis player from Sweden. Career Windahl was the Boys' Singles Champion at the 1981 Australian Open, the first Swede to win the junior title. He defeated Pat Cash in the final. In ...

defeated

Pat Cash Patrick Hart Cash (born 27 May 1965) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 4 in May 1988 and a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 6 in August 1988. Upon winning ...

6–4, 6–4

Girls' singles

Anne Minter Anne Minter (born 3 April 1963) is a former tennis player from Australia. She competed for her native country at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, and was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder. Minter won four singles titles on ...

defeated Corinne Vanier 6–4, 6–2

Boys' doubles

David Lewis and Tony Withers won the title

Girls' doubles

Maree Booth and Sharon Hodgkin won the title

External links

Official website Australian Open
{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Open,1981 1981 in Australian tennis December 1981 sports events in Australia January 1982 sports events in Australia 1981,Australian Open