John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...

defeated five-time defending champion

Björn Borg Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 109 weeks. Borg won 66 singles titles during his caree ...

in a rematch of the previous year's final, 4–6, 7–6^(7–1), 7–6^(7–4), 6–4 to win the gentlemen's singles tennis title at the 1981 Wimbledon Championships. It was his first

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

singles title and third

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

singles title overall. Borg was attempting to equal

William Renshaw William Charles Renshaw (3 January 1861 – 12 August 1904) was a British tennis player active during the late 19th century, who was ranked world No. 1. He won twelve Wimbledon titles: seven in singles and five in doubles. A right-hander, R ...

's record of six consecutive Wimbledon titles and

Roy Emerson Roy Stanley Emerson (born 3 November 1936) is an Australian former tennis player who won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, for a total of 28 Grand Slam titles. All of his singles Grand Slam victories and 14 of his ...

's all-time record of 12 major singles titles. It was Borg's last Wimbledon appearance. During this tournament, McEnroe famously shouted "You cannot be serious!" to the chair umpire in response to a serve being called "out". The disagreement took place on 22 June, during his first round match against

Tom Gullikson Tom Gullikson (born September 8, 1951) is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player born in La Crosse, Wisconsin and raised in Onalaska, Wisconsin in the United States. Career During his career as a player, Gullikson won 15 ATP recogn ...

.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

Seeds

''(final)''

(champion)

Jimmy Connors James Scott Connors (born September 2, 1952) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 2 ...

''(semifinals)''

Ivan Lendl Ivan Lendl (; born March 7, 1960) is a Czech-American former professional tennis player and coach. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, he was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis ...

''(first round)''

Gene Mayer Gene Mayer (born May 11, 1956) is a former tennis player from the United States who won 14 professional singles titles during his career. Mayer was born in Flushing, Queens Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the Ne ...

''(withdrew before the tournament began)''

Brian Teacher Brian David Teacher (born December 23, 1954) is an American former professional tennis player. He reached career-high rankings of world No. 7 in singles and world No. 5 in doubles, both in 1981. Teacher is best remembered for being a major sing ...

''(second round)''

Brian Gottfried Brian Edward Gottfried (born January 27, 1952) is an American retired tennis player who won 25 singles titles and 54 doubles titles during his professional career. He was the runner-up in singles at the 1977 French Open – Men's singles, 1977 F ...

''(second round)''

Roscoe Tanner Leonard Roscoe Tanner (born October 15, 1951) is an American former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 on July 30, 1979. Tanner won 16 titles throughout his career. Tanner was famous for his big ...

''(second round)''

José Luis Clerc José Luis Clerc (; born 16 August 1958), also known by the nickname Batata, is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 4 singles ranking on 3 August 1981, ...

''(third round)''

Guillermo Vilas Guillermo Vilas (; born 17 August 1952) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He was the world No. 1 of the Grand Prix tennis circuit, Grand Prix seasons in 1974, 1975 and 1977. He won 62 singles titles and 16 doubles titles during ...

''(first round)''

Víctor Pecci Víctor Pecci Sr. (born October 15, 1955) is a Paraguayan former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 9 in singles in 1980 and world No. 31 in doubles in 1984. Pecci is famous for reaching the 1979 French Open final. He ...

''(first round)''

Peter McNamara Peter McNamara (5 July 1955 – 20 July 2019) was an Australian tennis player and coach. McNamara won five singles titles and nineteen doubles titles in his career. A right-hander, McNamara reached his highest singles ATP-ranking on 14 March ...

''(quarterfinals)''

Yannick Noah Yannick Noah (; born 18 May 1960) is a French former professional tennis player and singer, who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2005. Noah won the French Open in 1983 French Open – Men's singles, 1983, and is a forme ...

''(first round)''

Wojciech Fibak Wojciech Fibak (; popularly Wojtek Fibak ; born 30 August 1952) is a Polish former professional tennis player, entrepreneur, and art collector. Fibak is best known for his doubles success with Dutch pro Tom Okker and Australian Kim Warwick, a ...

''(fourth round)''

Balázs Taróczy Balázs Taróczy (; born 9 May 1954) is a retired tennis player from Hungary. The right-hander won 13 singles titles in his career, and achieved a career-high singles ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items, often recorde ...

''(third round)''

Vitas Gerulaitis Vytautas "Vitas" Kevin Gerulaitis (July 26, 1954 – September 17, 1994) was an American professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in 1978. Gerulaitis won the men's si ...

''(fourth round)''

withdrew due to injury. He was replaced in the draw by lucky loser

Mike Estep Mike Estep (born July 19, 1949) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. During his career Estep won 2 singles titles and 7 doubles titles. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 59 in August 1973. In 198 ...

Qualifying

Draw

Finals

Top half

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Bottom half

Section 5

Section 6

Section 7

Section 8

References

External links

* *
1981 Wimbledon Championships – Men's draws and results
at the

International Tennis Federation The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. there are 211 nat ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:1981 Wimbledon Championships - Men's Singles Men's Singles Wimbledon Championship by year – Men's singles