The 1981 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Melbourne in Victoria 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.

Johan Kriek defeated Steve Denton, 6–2, 7–6(7–1), 6–7(1–7), 6–4 Martina Navratilova defeated Chris Evert, 6–7(4–7), 6–4, 7–5 Mark Edmondson / Kim Warwick defeated Hank Pfister / John Sadri 6–3, 6–7, 6–3 Kathy Jordan / Anne Smith defeated Martina Navratilova / Pam Shriver 6–2, 7–5 Jörgen Windahl defeated Pat Cash 6–4, 6–4 Anne Minter defeated Corinne Vanier 6–4, 6–2 David Lewis and Tony Withers won the title Maree Booth and Sharon Hodgkin won the title