This month's Australian Open tennis Grand Slam will take place during a bushfire crisis that has left at least 26 people dead and destroyed more than 2,000 homes.
Blazes across the country have torched about eight million hectares (80,000 square kilometres) of land, sending air pollution soaring.
AFP Sport looks at the implications for the first major tennis tournament of the year, which starts on January 20:
- What are the dangers? -
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- How bad can it get? -
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"It's still an open question just whether or not we could still have further periods of intense pollution."
- What are the health risks? -
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- What's being done for players? -
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"Avoiding alcohol, getting plenty of rest, sleeping normal hours and not being outdoors any more than you need to be. Difficult for players, because they're on practice courts and they're constantly trying to keep their (practice) hours up."
- Has haze affected other events? -
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- Could the Australian Open be cancelled? -