San Francisco Chronicle

Australian center announces he’s gay

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Melbourne United starting center Isaac Humphries announced that he is gay and said he hopes his decision to go public will give confidence to other pro athletes to do the same.

Humphries, who played at Kentucky, became the first openly gay player in Australia’s National Basketball League when he made his announceme­nt to teammates. He posted the video on Twitter.

The 24-year-old is the second active athlete in one of Australia’s top sports leagues to publicly announce he’s gay, following A-League soccer player Josh Cavallo.

“I believe it is definitely time to make a change and set an example to the next generation that they can be anything they want while still being true to themselves,” Humphries said. “I want to demonstrat­e that you can be a profession­al athlete, you can be anything you want, and still be gay.”

Tennis: The Australian government confirmed Thursday that 21-time Grand Slam singles champion Novak Djokovic had been granted a visa to compete in the Australian Open in January a year after he was deported over his stance against COVID-19 vaccinatio­n.

• Djokovic, the seventh seed, eased into the final four of the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy, with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Andrey Rublev. Second-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-7 (11), 7-6 (1).

Soccer: Hours before Cristiano Ronaldo spared almost no one in his highly anticipate­d tell-all interview with Piers Morgan, Manchester United was pulling down a giant mural outside Old Trafford containing an image of the Portugal forward.

Past and present teammates. Former managers. The people who run the club. They all got a blast from the one of the world’s most renowned athletes, whose days at United are now surely numbered.

• New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced plans for a 25,000-seat stadium for Major League Soccer’s New York City Football Club on an underdevel­oped parcel of land adjoining Citi Field, the New York Mets’ home.

• Son Heung-min wore a mask at training with the South Korea team ahead of World Cup in Qatar and expressed doubt about his availabili­ty for the start of the tournament because of a fracture around his left eye.

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