1881 men's tennis season

The 1881, men's tennis season was composed of the sixth annual pre-open era tour, which now incorporates 73 tournaments staged in Australia, Canada, Great Britain and Ireland, and the United States. The 1881 Wimbledon Championships was won by William Renshaw. This year also saw the inaugural and important 1881 U.S. National Championships held at Newport Casino which Richard Sears won. This was also the year that the United States National Lawn Tennis Association, which is the world's first national tennis association, was founded. Renshaw then went on to win two other big tournaments of the year, namely, the Irish Lawn Tennis Championships and Princes Club Championships, whilst Richard Taswell Richardson won the prestigious Northern Championships.

The tour began in April in Cheltenham, England, and ended in November in Melbourne, Australia.

Calendar
Notes 1: Challenge round: the final round of a tournament, in which the winner of a single-elimination phase faces the previous year's champion, who plays only that one match. The challenge round was used in the early history of tennis (from 1877 through 1921), in some tournaments, not all. * Indicates challenger Notes 2:Tournaments in italics were events that were staged only onetime

Key

January to March
No events

December
No events

List of tournament winners
Note: important tournaments are written in bold
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 William Renshaw—Cheltenham, Irish Championships, Princes Club, Wimbledon—(4)
 * 🇬🇧 Richard Taswell Richardson—Aigburth, Waterloo, Northern Championships—(2)
 * 🇮🇪 Michael G. McNamara—Brighton-Waterford—(2)
 * 🇬🇧 Edward North Buxton—Lowick, Woodford Parish—(1)
 * 🇺🇸 Richard Sears—U.S. National Championships—(1)
 * 🇮🇪 Richard Barron Templer—Armagh—(1)
 * 🇬🇧 Pelham Von Donop—Bath—(1)
 * 🇮🇪 E. J. Charley—Belfast—(1)
 * 🇬🇧 F. L. Rawson—Belfast—(1)
 * 🇬🇧 Montague Hankey—Bournemouth—(1)
 * 🇬🇧 C. Fairfax —Brighton—(1)
 * 🇬🇧 Barcley Fowell Buxton—Cambridge—(1)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ernest Renshaw -Cheltenham (indoor)—(1)
 * 🇬🇧 Dale Womersley—Colchester—(1)
 * 🇬🇧 F. E. Rook—Cirencester—(1)
 * 🇬🇧 A. Springett—Darlington—(1)
 * 🇮🇪 Robert Shaw Templer—Dundalk—(1)
 * 🇬🇧 Edgar Lubbock—Eastbourne—(1)
 * 🇬🇧 Walter William Chamberlain—Edgbaston—(1)
 * 🇬🇧 John Galbraith Horn—Edinburgh—(1)
 * Leslie Balfour-Melville—Edinburgh—(1)
 * 🇬🇧 C. Martineau —Esher—(1)
 * 🇬🇧 Spencer Cox—Exeter—(1)
 * 🇬🇧 E. W. Mancounchy—Exmouth—(1)
 * 🇮🇪 Edmond Bennett Brackenbury—Limerick—(1)
 * Herbert Lawford—London—(1)
 * 🇬🇧 Frederick Lawrence Rawson—London—(1)
 * 🇬🇧 Richard Mercer—Maidstone—(1)
 * 🇦🇺 Louis Whyte—Melbourne—(1)
 * 🇮🇪 Peter Aungier—Naas—(1)
 * 🇮🇪 John Jameson Cairnes -New York -(1)
 * 🇬🇧 A.W. Soames-St Leonards-on-Sea-(1)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jonas Henry William Gardner-Stafford-(1)
 * 🇬🇧 Champion Branfill Russell—Teignmouth—(1)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ernest Maconchy-Torquay-(1)
 * 🇨🇦 Isidore F. Hellmuth—Toronto—(1)
 * 🇬🇧 Wilfred Milne—Weybridge—(1)

Rankings
Source: The Concise History of Tennis