Novak Djokovic said Australian Open organisers should consider delaying the first Grand Slam of the year if haze from bushfires raging around the country threatens players’ health. 

The opening major of 2020 is due to start at Melbourne Park on January 20 and the city was blanketed by smoke from blazes burning to the east on Saturday, compromising air quality. 

Djokovic, president of the ATP players council, said in the early hours of Sunday that any delay would be a last resort, but it needed to be discussed. 

“I mean, it’s fair from you to say that (ask the question),” he said when pressed on the matter in Brisbane, where he is playing for Serbia in the inaugural ATP Cup team event. 

“Obviously, you have to always… because of some extreme weather and conditions, you just have to consider it. 

“But I think that’s probably the very, very last option for anything. I think they’re going to try to do anything to not delay in terms of days and when it starts. 

“I mean, and I understand why, but if it comes down to those conditions affecting the health of players, I think we should definitely consider it.” 

Catastrophic bushfires have been raging in Australia for weeks, leaving 24 dead and hundreds of properties destroyed. 

Tennis officials last week took the unprecedented decision to relocate the Canberra International — an ATP Challenger 125 event and on the women’s ITF World Tennis Tour, which serves as a stepping stone to the full tour. 

They said play would not have been possible in the Australian capital which has been choked by smoke, with the tournament now due to start Monday at Bendigo in Victoria state. 

Djokovic said he had experienced air quality issues at tournaments in China, but the bushfires had created an unprecedented situation. 

The Serbian superstar said he not spoken to Tennis Australia chief Craig Tiley “but people from my team have”.

“They’re obviously tracking the situation every single day as it’s evolving and hopefully calming down with the smoke and fires,” he said. 

“I think they will, if it continues the same way and if the quality of air is affected… I think Tennis Australia probably will be forced to, I think, create some rules about it. 

“I mean, it’s tough for them because scheduling has to be respected in terms of play and the Australian Open starts at a certain time, so there’s a lot of different things involved. 

“But health is a concern for me and for anybody.”

He said the ATP players’ council was due to meet before the Australian Open and the issue would be on the agenda.

In a related development, Australian world number one Ashleigh Barty will donate all of her prize money from the Brisbane International to the bushfire relief fund.

The event offers a pot of 1,434,900 Australian dollars (£763,300).

“There are a lot of bigger things going on in Australia right now that we need to take care of,” Barty said.

Five-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova says she plans to donate an initial A$25,000 and asked men’s world number two Novak Djokovic to match it.

Since September, fires in Australia have killed at least 24 people, with dozens more missing, and there is a widely reported estimate that 480 million animals have died.

More than 1,200 homes have been destroyed and millions of hectares of land scorched.

Barty, 23, is the top seed in the singles at the Brisbane International and will play alongside Dutch partner Kiki Bertens in the doubles.

“It’s been really terrible, it really has. For me, this started two or three months ago,” said Barty, who won her first Grand Slam at last year’s French Open.

“We have to remember, this has been going on for a long time across our whole country. 

“The first I saw of it was actually flying home from the Fed Cup final [in November], from Perth back to the east coast of Australia, and we could see some of the smoke and some of the fires from the plane. So that really hit home with me.”

Barty also says she donated A$30,000 (£15,960) to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at the end of last year.

“Obviously the worst of it is still out there at the moment,” she added.

“Now it’s not just wildlife [that] have lost lives and lost homes, but it’s also affected Australians with their lives and their homes.”

Reigning Wimbledon champion Simona Halep, not known for hitting many aces, has also pledged her support in a novel way – by donating every time she shouts at her Australian coach, Darren Cahill, during a match.

Czech two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is the latest player to pledge to donate money for every ace hit during the Australian summer.

Australian number two Nick Kyrgios started the initiative when he said he would donate A$200 (£106) for each ace.

Tennis Australia committed a A$100 (£53) donation for every ace served at the ATP Cup in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney.

A total of 426 were hit on the opening two days, meaning A$42,600 (£22,660) has been raised for the Australian Red Cross.