Goran Ivanišević defeated Patrick Rafter in the final, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 2–6, 9–7 to win the gentlemen's singles tennis title at the 2001 Wimbledon Championships. It was his only major title, following three runner-up finishes (all at Wimbledon in 1992, 1994, and 1998). Ivanišević was the first unseeded player to win the title since Boris Becker in 1985, and the first and only wild card to win a men's singles major. His ranking improved by 109 places following the win, from world No. 125 to world No. 16. The final was held on the third Monday of the event in front of a boisterous crowd, after Ivanišević's semifinal against Tim Henman took three days to complete due to rain.

Pete Sampras was the four-time defending champion, but lost in the fourth round to Roger Federer. The Sampras–Federer match was the pair's only professional meeting, with Federer being 19 years old and the soon-to-be 30 year old Sampras retiring from the sport the following year. This was the first major in which Federer was seeded. Sampras was attempting to equal Björn Borg's record of five consecutive Wimbledon titles (which Federer would himself achieve in 2007) and to win a record-breaking eighth men's singles Wimbledon title (which Federer would achieve in 2017).

This was the year when Wimbledon expanded from 16 to 32 seeds.

Seeds

Pete Sampras (fourth round) Andre Agassi (semifinals) Patrick Rafter (final) Marat Safin (quarterfinals) Lleyton Hewitt (fourth round) Tim Henman (semifinals) Yevgeny Kafelnikov (third round) Juan Carlos Ferrero (third round) Sébastien Grosjean (third round) Thomas Enqvist (quarterfinals) Thomas Johansson (second round) Jan-Michael Gambill (first round) Arnaud Clément (fourth round) Wayne Ferreira (first round) Roger Federer (quarterfinals) Vladimir Voltchkov (first round) Tommy Haas (first round)

Magnus Norman (withdrew) Nicolas Kiefer (fourth round) Fabrice Santoro (third round) Carlos Moyá (second round) Dominik Hrbatý (first round) Todd Martin (fourth round) Nicolas Escudé (quarterfinals) Albert Portas (first round) Sjeng Schalken (third round) Hicham Arazi (third round) Franco Squillari (first round) Guillermo Coria (first round) Nicolás Lapentti (withdrew) Alberto Martín (first round) Gastón Gaudio (first round) Jonas Björkman (third round) Harel Levy (first round)

Magnus Norman and Nicolás Lapentti withdrew due to injury. They were replaced in the draw by the highest-ranked non-seeded players Jonas Björkman and Harel Levy, who became the #33 and #34 seeds respectively.

Qualifying

Draw

Finals

Top half

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Bottom half

Section 5

Section 6

Section 7

Section 8

Notes

References

External links

2001 Wimbledon Championships – Men's draws and results at the International Tennis Federation