1979 World Championship Tennis Finals – Singles
# 1979 World Championship Tennis Finals – Singles

Vitas Gerulaitis was the defending champion but lost in the semifinals to Björn Borg.

John McEnroe won in the final 7–5, 4–6, 6–2, 7–6 against Borg.

## Seeds

A champion seed is indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which that seed was eliminated.

* Jimmy Connors (semifinals)
* Björn Borg (final)
* John McEnroe (champion)
* Brian Gottfried (quarterfinals)
* Vitas Gerulaitis (semifinals)
* John Alexander (quarterfinals)
* Gene Mayer (quarterfinals)
* Geoff Masters (quarterfinals)

## Draw

### Key

* Q = Qualifier
* WC = Wild card
* LL = Lucky loser
* Alt = Alternate
* SE = Special exempt
* PR = Protected ranking
* ITF = ITF entry
* JE = Junior exempt
* w/o = Walkover
* r = Retired
* d = Defaulted
* SR = Special ranking

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final | Final | Final | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Jimmy Connors | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Gene Mayer | 7 | 1 | 4 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Gene Mayer | 7 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | Jimmy Connors | 1 | 4 | 4 | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | 3 | John McEnroe | 6 | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | |
| 3 | John McEnroe | 6 | 6 | 6 | | 3 | John McEnroe | 6 | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | |
| 6 | John Alexander | 4 | 0 | 2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | John Alexander | 4 | 0 | 2 | | | | | | | | 3 | John McEnroe | 7 | 4 | 6 | 7 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 | Björn Borg | 5 | 6 | 2 | 6 |
| 5 | Vitas Gerulaitis | 6 | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 | Björn Borg | 5 | 6 | 2 | 6 |
| 4 | Brian Gottfried | 4 | 3 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 4 | Brian Gottfried | 4 | 3 | 3 | | 5 | Vitas Gerulaitis | 5 | 6 | 6 | 2 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | 2 | Björn Borg | 7 | 7 | 2 | 6 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Geoff Masters | 3 | 1 | 1 | | 2 | Björn Borg | 7 | 7 | 2 | 6 | | | | | | |
| 2 | Björn Borg | 6 | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
