The 1981 Volvo Grand Prix was the only men's professional tennis circuit held that year.

The World Championship Tennis (WCT) Tour was incorporated into the Grand Prix circuit.

The table below shows the 1981 Volvo Grand Prix schedule (precursor to the ATP Tour).

No points were awarded to first-round losers and advancements by default were equal to winning a round.

Yannick Noah (Fra) [5] *The official ATP year-end rankings were listed from January 4th, 1982.