Marinko Matosevic needed a boost in his first-round match against five-time U.S. Open champion Roger Federer. The overmatched Australian was down two sets and a break, but had some life at 3-4 in the third. If he could only channel the athletic greatness of a nearby spectator, maybe Matosevic could turn the match around and score a historic upset on the biggest court in tennis.

So, Matosevic looked up, saw Michael Jordan, who was sitting in Federer’s player’s box to help pitch Federer’s new Air Jordan look-alike tennis shoes, and uttered the line that millions of kids used to say while playing pickup basketball: ‘I just want to be like Mike.’

Jordan laughed, the crowd went nuts and Matosevic managed to break back and eventually forced a third-set tiebreak. Unfortunately, he was only able to channel the baseball version of MJ in said tiebreak, as he went on to lose the match, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (5).

It all wasn’t for naught, however. Matosevic got to meet His Airness after the match.

(Getty Images)

The charismatic Aussie made worldwide headlines this spring at the French Open when he celebrated breaking an 0-12 Grand Slam drought by rolling to the net in celebration — on clay, no less.