diff --git a/flink-java/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/hadoop/mapred/HadoopInputFormatBase.java b/flink-java/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/hadoop/mapred/HadoopInputFormatBase.java
index ef9999faf99e2cdfb407e0e3dd371bfdfaf9c6de..ae23a494739b2b9f01ee800f6d4752b5aa1afe69 100644
--- a/flink-java/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/hadoop/mapred/HadoopInputFormatBase.java
+++ b/flink-java/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/hadoop/mapred/HadoopInputFormatBase.java
@@ -190,10 +190,12 @@ public abstract class HadoopInputFormatBase<K, V, T> extends HadoopInputFormatCo
 
 	@Override
 	public void close() throws IOException {
+		if (this.recordReader != null) {
 
-		// enforce sequential close() calls
-		synchronized (CLOSE_MUTEX) {
-			this.recordReader.close();
+			// enforce sequential close() calls
+			synchronized (CLOSE_MUTEX) {
+				this.recordReader.close();
+			}
 		}
 	}
 	
diff --git a/flink-java/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/hadoop/mapreduce/HadoopInputFormatBase.java b/flink-java/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/hadoop/mapreduce/HadoopInputFormatBase.java
index 0335c23d22ed4a66a2d59421cbfe8d3d006e32d1..9d8a8c502bd0ea5424d9a8d5857dcfce8626b820 100644
--- a/flink-java/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/hadoop/mapreduce/HadoopInputFormatBase.java
+++ b/flink-java/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/hadoop/mapreduce/HadoopInputFormatBase.java
@@ -225,10 +225,12 @@ public abstract class HadoopInputFormatBase<K, V, T> extends HadoopInputFormatCo
 
 	@Override
 	public void close() throws IOException {
+		if (this.recordReader != null) {
 
-		// enforce sequential close() calls
-		synchronized (CLOSE_MUTEX) {
-			this.recordReader.close();
+			// enforce sequential close() calls
+			synchronized (CLOSE_MUTEX) {
+				this.recordReader.close();
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/flink-java/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/hadoop/mapred/HadoopInputFormatTest.java b/flink-java/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/hadoop/mapred/HadoopInputFormatTest.java
index 3b8d22759bf39bff8ba7084abd26418bc1b939d1..434ad15651504edd1c71749bfdcbce8ad6d6961b 100644
--- a/flink-java/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/hadoop/mapred/HadoopInputFormatTest.java
+++ b/flink-java/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/hadoop/mapred/HadoopInputFormatTest.java
@@ -174,6 +174,13 @@ public class HadoopInputFormatTest {
 		assertThat(tupleType, is(equalTo(expectedType)));
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testCloseWithoutOpen() throws Exception {
+		HadoopInputFormat<Void, Long> hadoopInputFormat = new HadoopInputFormat<>(
+			new DummyVoidKeyInputFormat<Long>(), Void.class, Long.class, new JobConf());
+		hadoopInputFormat.close();
+	}
+
 	private HadoopInputSplit getHadoopInputSplit() {
 		return new HadoopInputSplit(1, getFileSplit(), new JobConf());
 	}
diff --git a/flink-java/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/hadoop/mapreduce/HadoopInputFormatTest.java b/flink-java/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/hadoop/mapreduce/HadoopInputFormatTest.java
index d6ec484d201a5d64cd582a8a672ecc5a5753001c..4c9c0093172db1a8ea51c1e986a7605f59866893 100644
--- a/flink-java/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/hadoop/mapreduce/HadoopInputFormatTest.java
+++ b/flink-java/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/hadoop/mapreduce/HadoopInputFormatTest.java
@@ -98,6 +98,12 @@ public class HadoopInputFormatTest {
 		verify(recordReader, times(1)).close();
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testCloseWithoutOpen() throws Exception {
+		HadoopInputFormat<String, Long> hadoopInputFormat = new HadoopInputFormat<>(new DummyInputFormat(), String.class, Long.class, Job.getInstance());
+		hadoopInputFormat.close();
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void testFetchNextInitialState() throws Exception {
 		DummyRecordReader recordReader = new DummyRecordReader();