# Where has Andre Murrall gone?

Renowned tennis player Andre Murrall seems to have left the tennis tournament he is currently playing in, Winbelldam. No one knows where he has gone except a taxi driver who claims he drove Murrall away from the tournament. However Andre has paid the taxi driver (Who is also very good at Maths) not to reveal his location specifically so when the media ask him about Murrall's location he hands over this:

The taxi driver gave this short speech and handed the interviewer these tennis scores:

"He’s such a key player, count the numbers of the times that he's hit a winner, compare that to the letters he’s received from the queen, he is an all-time great.

What adds up is that you can take the mean out of him. After that you can still add up the mean-ness.

When you count all the games he and his opponents have played its incredible.

How many times has he lost? 5, 11, 9, 3, 9, 1, 5… who knows! I just can’t help looking at the letters from players congratulating him.

Looking at these scores you can deduce that they are complete nonsense and bear no resemblance to the tournament at all. They must have some other hidden meaning which can be unlocked by something else...

Where has Andre Murrall gone?

NOTE: You only need (very) basic tennis knowledge

Hints:

There are 4 parts to this puzzle which lead to a 3 word sentence explaining where he's gone. Each 'part' relates to each paragraph of the interview.

2

Key phrases in the paragraphs, to stop you going off on the wrong track

1. 'Count the numbers (digits)', 'compare that to the letters (in the players names)'
2. 'Adds up (digits in each separate match)', 'take the mean (and round it), 'add up the means'
3. 'Count all the games' (games as in tennis games)
4. '5, 11, 9, 3, 9, 1', 'compare to letters' (same as first paragraph but numbers given).

Compare the numbers you get from paragraphs 2 and 3 to the alphabet

• How come Murrall didn't play a game against Maddal ? – Marius Jul 7 '16 at 7:43
• @humn I'll give you a hint, the queen but isn't important – Beastly Gerbil Jul 7 '16 at 8:17
• The queen isn't important? How treasonous! – Shagnik Jul 7 '16 at 10:15
• Idk much about tennis, but the maths phrases stand out: "count the numbers of the times he’s won, compare that to the letters", "What adds up... take the mean... add up the mean", "count all the games he and his opponents have played", and "How many times has he lost?". – mbomb007 Jul 7 '16 at 21:44
• @ABcDexter DEFINETLY not, most of the suspicious bits in the interview are relevant – Beastly Gerbil Jul 9 '16 at 10:36

(Community evidence locker— feel free to add or correct)

Tennis scoring: match = sets × 6 games × 4 points

Scoreboard numbered out:
"times
MATCH            SET            GAME           TOTAL       he's                 sum of
sets games pts     games pts      score pts       games pts     lost"               letters
--------------     ---------      ---------       ---------    ------               -------
Murray -----  96
"2"  12  48        "2"   8        "40"  3         14   59               Murrall ----  95
"1"   6  24        "0"   0         "0"  0          6   24     ... 5 e   Thieem -----  60 ...
:     :   Thiem ------  55   :
:     :......::              :
"0"   0   0        "1"   4        "15"  1          1    5     :         Murrall            :
"0"   0   0        "0"   0        "30"  2          0    2     :  11 k   Dyockovich - 115   :
:     :   Djokovic ---  89   :
:     :......::              :
"2"  12  48        "1"   4        "15"  1         13   53     :         Murrall            :
"0"   0   0        "1"   4        "00"  0          1    4     :.. 9 i   Silich -----  60 ..:
:     :   Cilic ------  36   :
:     :....:.:               :
"2"  12  48        "4"  16        "15"  1         16   65     :         Murrall            :
"2"  12  48        "2"   8        "00"  0         14   56     :   3 c   Mishicori -- 103   :
:     :   Nishikori -- 112   :
:     :........:             :
"2"  12  48        "0"   0        "15"  1         12   49     :         Murrall            :
"2"  12  48        "0"   0        "00"  0         12   48     :.. 9 i   FedERROR ---  89 ..:
:     :   Federer ----  61   :
:     :.?                    :
"1"   6  24        "1"   4        "30"  2          7   30     :         Murrall            :
"0"   0   0        "0"   0        "40"  3          0    3     :   1 a   Warinker ---  99   :
:     :   Wawrinka --- 100   :
:     :..........:           :
"1"   6  24        "1"   4        "30"  2          7   30     :         Murrall            :
"2"  12  48        "1"   4        "40"  3         13   55     :.. 5 e   Birdytch ---  89 ..:
:   Berdych ----  65
:....:

• From the OPs comment that he could not post an ASCII text version of the table, I would deduce that the dots in the score board are of some significance (dots are also points). Has anyone counted / used them already? – BmyGuest Jul 12 '16 at 5:42
• @BmyGuest, nice idea which I might use in the future, but the dots aren't important, just the digits themselves – Beastly Gerbil Jul 12 '16 at 6:52
• @BeastlyGerbil Ok, thanks for clarification. I, however, do not quite understand why it should then not be possible to state the puzzle using ASCII text as requested by Peregrene Rook. If this statement holds, then it contains some sort of hint, because then some feature of the images - which would get lost in the clean text representation - is of importance... – BmyGuest Jul 12 '16 at 6:54
• @BeastlyGerbil That is not to say, that I couldn't agree with a esthetically motivated reason to not do it. – BmyGuest Jul 12 '16 at 6:55

Just some stray observations:

count the numbers of the times that he's hit a winner

Assuming only the points shown on the scoresheet, we get: 3+1+1+1+1+2+2=11. Its mean is 5.5(Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense)

When you count all the games he and his opponents have played

Counting all, we get 7.

If we add what we got, I still can't make it work with something. That's all I got so far. I can't get the lost part.

• Heres some help: first paragraph contains 2 key phrases, 'count the numbers' and 'compare that to the letters'. The mean but is in second paragraph which means that's separate, and the 'count the games he and his opponents have played' refer to tennis games. For paragraphs 2 and 3 compare the numbers you get to the alphabet. Last paragraph contains key phrases '5, 11, 9, 3, 9, 1, 5' and 'looking at the letters'. For paragraphs 1 and 4, letters might just refer to the letters in the player's names. Hope you can get it now, You deserve the bounty because you've been most actively involved so far – Beastly Gerbil Jul 10 '16 at 14:38
• thanks, for my active involvement, I was trying to solve it before winbeldaam gets over. But Now, it already has. But thanks again for the help. I was livid with myself for missing such obvious clues – Sid Jul 10 '16 at 17:09

Okay this has been abandoned. I'll post my answer myself as no one appears to have been anywhere close.

What you have to do for the first part is

Add up each digit and count that number on the letters

Which you can get from the first paragraph

count the numbers of the times that he's hit a winner, compare that to the letters he’s received from the queen

Doing this we get

9 (2, 2, 4, 1) = 'H'
10 (1, 1, 5, 3) = 'O'
10 (2, 1, 1, 5, 1) = 'L'
16 (2, 4, 1, 5, 2, 2) = 'I'
10 (2, 1, 5, 2) = 'D'
9 (1, 1, 3, 4) = 'A'
12 (1, 1, 3, 2, 1, 4) = 'Y'

Holiday

For the second part

You must add up the means for each match, round them, and then add up all the means

You get this from the second paragraph

What adds up is that you can take the mean out of him. After that you can still add up the mean-ness.

So doing this we get

9 (2, 2, 4, 0, 1, 0, 0) = 9 / 7 = 1.3 = 1
10 (0, 1, 1, 5, 0, 0, 3, 0) = 10 / 8 = 1.25 = 1
10 (2, 1, 1, 5, 0, 1, 0, 0) = 10 / 8 = 1.25 = 1
16 (2, 4, 1, 5, 2, 2, 0, 0) = 16 / 8 = 2
10 (2, 0, 1, 5, 2, 0, 0, 0) = 10 / 8 = 1.25 = 1
9 (1, 1, 3, 0, 0, 0, 4, 0) = 9 / 8 = 1.1 = 1
12 (1, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 4, 0) = 12 / 8 = 1.5 = 2

$1+1+1+2+1+1+2$ $=$ $9$

And the $9$$th letter of the alphabet is 'I' For the third part You simply count all the tennis games (excluding sets, just what it says on the board) You get this from paragraph 3: When you count all the games he and his opponents have played it's incredible. Doing this we get 2+1+1+1+4+2+1+1+1 = 14 And the 14$$th$ letter of the alphabet is N

For the last part

You compare the numbers '5, 11, 9, 3, 9, 1, 5' to the letters of the names, like the first part

You get this from

The last paragraph where it says the numbers and then where it says ' I just can’t help looking at the letters from players congratulating him.'

Doing this we get:

5 = A
11 = C
9 = I
3 = R
9 = E
1 = M
5 = A

And this says AMERICA backwards

So Andre Murall has gone on

HOLIDAY IN AMERICA

Good for him :P