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 ...

in the final, 6–2, 7–6^(7–1), 6–7^(1–7), 6–4 to win the men's singles tennis title at the 1981 Australian Open.

Brian Teacher Brian David Teacher (born December 23, 1954) is a former American professional male tennis player. He reached a career-high ranking World No. 7 in 1981. Teacher is best remembered for his singles championship at the Australian Open in 1980. Hi ...

was the defending champion, but did not compete this year.

Seeds

The seeded players are listed below.

is the champion; others show the round in which they were eliminated. #

Guillermo Vilas Guillermo Vilas (; born 17 August 1952) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. Vilas was the No. 1 of the Grand Prix seasons in 1974, 1975 and 1977, and won four Grand Slam tournaments, one year-end Masters, nine Grand Prix Super Se ...

''(third 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)'' #

Roscoe Tanner Leonard Roscoe Tanner (born October 15, 1951) is a retired American tennis player, who turned professional in 1972 and reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 on July 30, 1979. Tanner was famous for his big left-handed serve, which ...

''(second round)'' #

(champion) #

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 ...

''(quarterfinals)'' #

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 ...

''(semifinals)'' #

Fritz Buehning Fritz Buehning (born March 5, 1960) is an American former tennis player. Born in Summit, New Jersey, Buehning grew up in Millburn, New Jersey and attended Millburn High School, where he won the New Jersey state individual tennis championship in ...

''(first round)'' #

Tim Mayotte Timothy Mayotte (born August 3, 1960) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Professional career A tall serve-and-volleyer, Mayotte learned to play the game on the public courts of Forest Park in his hometown of Springfi ...

''(quarterfinals)'' #

Shlomo Glickstein Shlomo Glickstein ( he, שלמה גליקשטיין; born 6 January 1958) is an Israeli former professional tennis player. He reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 22 in November 1982, and his career-high doubles ranking of World ...

''(quarterfinals)'' #

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 ...

''(first round)'' # Chris Lewis ''(third round)'' #

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 ...

''(semifinals)'' # Pat DuPré ''(third round)'' #

Kevin Curren Kevin Melvyn Curren (born 2 March 1958) is a South African former professional tennis player. He played in two Grand Slam singles finals and won four Grand Slam doubles titles, reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 5 in July 198 ...

''(second round)'' #

Peter Rennert Peter Rennert (born December 26, 1958) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He achieved career-high rankings of World No. 40 in singles (in 1980), and World No. 8 in doubles (in 1983). At the 1977 Maccabiah Games in Isr ...

''(second round)'' # John Fitzgerald ''(first round)''

Qualifying

Draw

Key

* Q =

Qualifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...

* WC = Wild card * LL =

Lucky loser A lucky loser is a sports competitor (player or team) who loses a match in a knockout tournament or loses in qualifying, but who then enters the main draw, usually when another competitor withdraws during the tournament because of illness, injury ...

* r =

Retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

Final eight

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

External links

Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) – 1981 Australian Open Men's Singles draw

1981 Australian Open – 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. As of 2016, there a ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:1981 Australian Open - Men's Singles Mens singles Australian Open (tennis) by year – Men's singles