Michael Jackson remembered at Wimbledon
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Here’s a postcard on Michael Jackson from Chuck Culpepper, who’s covering Wimbledon for The Times:
TV stations stayed tuned to Los Angeles. ‘JACKO DEAD,’ screamed at least two tabloids.
And the very first question to Serena Williams after she advanced to the fourth round: ‘What did Michael Jackson mean to you personally?’ (Eleven more Michael Jackson questions followed.)
Turns out Williams met Jackson (and hyperventilated) a few times, learned he liked tennis, learned he had a tennis video game that helped familiarize him with Williams.
‘He’s just the greatest entertainer of all time for me,’ she said.
Turns out Roger Federer once went, sans ticket, to a concert in Basel, Switzerland, and stood outside the stadium listening.
And it turns out that Novak Djokovic, a gifted impersonator, actually played Michael Jackson two years ago during the Monte Carlo tournament players’ show, which features a dance number.
‘So we chose ‘Thriller,’ and I was him,’ Djokovic said. ‘So you can imagine what it looked like.’
Actually -- special thanks to YouTube -- he looked fabulous.
More Wimbledon coverage from Chuck on latimes.com.
-- Mike Hiserman
An unidentified Michael Jackson fan at Wimbledon on Friday. Credit: Hugo Philpott / EPA