The Baron Breaks

     The Baron Breaks

The Baron Breaks is a tennis interaction for all fans featuring a predictive tennis calculator, live stream tennis commentary through social media sites, poetry and comedy on tennis, finding the GOAT, improvements to tennis regulations and performance strategies.  

Many thanks to Tim Byrnes for setting up a live stream and a graphics template to produce the flyer. Tim is A/Prof in quantum physics at NYU Shanghai https://nyu.timbyrnes.net/

Video streamed on ANZAC Day 25th April 2024 at Mt Isa where a flock of birds appear in the sky after reading the words ‘Ashleigh Barty’ https://www.facebook.com/tristan.barnett.589/videos/1116885909622122/

Video streamed at Alice Springs just prior to Mother’s Day 12th May 2024 where birds start tweeting after reading the words ‘Ashleigh Barty’ https://www.facebook.com/tristan.barnett.589/videos/426887989943190

Just a coincidence                                                                                                                                                          By Tristan Barnett

Is it just a coincidence that both the words `greenbug’ and `earthnut’ can be obtained from environmental activist Greta Thunberg? And what about `legalist’ as the longest word obtained out of former barrister and now independent MP Zali Steggall? Given that John Foreman is musical director and conductor for carols by candlelight in Melbourne, then why does John wear a maroon jacket when conducting when Santa turns up in a red jacket? Is it merely (ho ho!) the fact that `maroon’ can be obtained out of John Foreman and not `red’? Further does the word `menorah’ within John Foreman suggest that carols are suitable for Jews as well as Christians given that Jesus was Jewish? But of course, `justice’ can be obtained out of Jesus Christ or `justices’ if one was trying to use all their letters in scrabble to obtain the 50-point bonus. And further John’s puppy dog named Fred lends itself to a composition titled `Fred is a four-letter word’ in F major given that `nonmajor’ is the longest word obtained out of John Foreman. On the tennis front since `tennis’ can be obtained out of Tristan Barnett, Tristan graduated with a PhD in tennis algebra in 2006 and thus must imply that `algebraist’ can be obtained out of Ashleigh Barty. Also, Wimbledon commenced on the 26th June in 2006 which coincides with Tristan’s birthday where a triple bagel 606060 can be obtained out of 26062006. But if both `saint’ and `sinner’ can be obtained out of Tristan Barnett does this imply that Jannick Sinner is a saint or a sinner given that `vodka’ can be obtained out of Novak Djokovic and `ashtray’ out of Ashleigh Barty? And what about COVID? Can algebra be used to obtain how many slams Novak Djokovic was expected to win due to being denied entry in 2 slams for not being COVID vaccinated and 2020 Wimbledon cancelled altogether? Well firstly COVIDjok is an anagram of Djokovic. To complete the phrase, e is a transcendental number equal to 2.7182818284……… and thus Novak was expected to win due to COVID a transcendental number of slams. If one was to speculate on who is the GOAT, again why not rely on logic and simply search for players that have the word `GOAT’ within their name. Thus, call me Mr Coincidence but the record number of slams is 64 which belongs to Margaret Court where the word `GOAT’ can readily be obtained. Also, a GOAT cannot be a BULL which eliminates one dimensional clay specialist Rafael Nadal and similarly a GOAT cannot be a HORSE and thus eliminating Phar Lap assuming tennis polo is a sport. Tennys Sandgren is a professional tennis player but unlike Tristan Barnett the word `tennis’ cannot be obtained in the real space but only in the imaginary space. The imaginary number i=√-1 and thus should Tenn√-1s Sandgren be playing lawn or beach tennis given that beach tennis is a recognized ITF sport played on sand? Okay some politics. Given that `archangel’ is an anagram of Rachael Gunn without the UN, should we then simply abolish the UN? Bandt is displayed sequentially in Bandicoot and Albo sequentially in Albatross. Thus, the titles Bandicoot Bandt and Albatross Albo kind of sound poetic in reference to political leaders Adam Bandt and Anthony Albanese (known colloquially as `Albo’). Susie O’Neill, former gold medalist swimmer was nicknamed `Madame Butterfly’ in reference to her peerless quality as a butterfly swimmer and butterflies are typically depicted as elegant and gracious animals (even though butterflies cannot swim but could potentially drown if immersed in water). If we assume there is a God in which around 40% of the world’s population would agree then God loves all his creation including the minuscule ant and (drum roll) Prime Minister Ant Albanese. Thus, would nicknaming Susie O’Neill or other personalities including Adam Goodes with names containing Ant, Bandicoot, Albatross etc. be in good taste or offensive given that again to reiterate that Susie O’Neill was nicknamed `Madame Butterfly’, God loves all his creation including the minuscule ant and a further 900 million Hindus believe in reincarnation where we were other species animals, plants or otherwise in previous lives? Thus, based on the above is it in good taste or offensive to nickname former PM John Howard as `Warthog Howard’ given the coincidental word `war’ within Howard and Australia with Howard as PM supporting the 2001-2021 wars in Afghanistan? And is it just a coincidence that there are three political leaders mentioned above where their names resemble species of animals and thus why didn’t we just mention the obvious name of former PM Bob Hawke from the outset?

Is the Davis Cup ½ full or ½ empty?                                                                                                                          By Tristan Barnett

Consider a single game of tennis on a cold and rainy day, since taking the dog (or horse) for a walk around the local park is no longer an option. Then by applying elementary methods of counting paths, Binomial theorem, Markov Chains and summing an infinite geometric series one can readily obtain the probability of player A winning a game of tennis as a function p (given p+q=1) of player A winning a point as f(p)=p⁴(1+4q+10q²)+20p⁵q³/(p²+q²). This simplifies to f(p) = p⁴(1+4q+10q²/(p²+q²)) since 30-30 and deuce are equivalent states, and thus how many times can one remember playing competition or even club tennis where a confrontation has taken place on whether the score is 30-30 or deuce? Further, advanced methods using absorbing Markov chains represent f(p)=p⁴(1-16q⁴)/(p⁴-q⁴), where it appears that p=½ is undefined since the denominator equals 0. However, on closer inspection the numerator also equals 0 for p=½, and we end up with the equation 0/0=½, for p=½. Using a mathematics software package, factorization follows as f(p)=p⁴(3-2p)(4p²-8p+5)/(2p²+1-2p), and the roots p=0 of multiplicity 4 and p=1½ can readily be obtained. Agree that probabilities must be between or equal to 0 and 1, but this is a piece of poetry rather than a mathematics course so let’s just be a little bit creative for the purposes of identifying as many instances as possible of a ½ appearing in this passage given that the probability of winning the coin toss is ? Continuing to obtain further roots of f(p), the quadratic equation can be applied to obtain two complex roots in conjugate pairs p=1+½i and p=1-½i. Now that we have established the roots of the function f(p), the next task is of course differentiation and anti-differentiation (integration) where with a bit of elbow grease or a mathematics software package, f(p) has a minimum turning point at p=0 and a maximum turning point at p=1 which intuitively is what you would expect. Likewise, f(p) has a non-horizontal point of inflection at p=½. Naturally we choose to integrate a game of tennis in the region from 0 to 1, but before proceeding with the mathematics it can be observed that the area of a rectangle = base (b).height (h). The graph of f(p) from 0 to 1, is visualized as a line that is symmetric about a rectangle with area 1 given that b=1 and h=1 (which is in fact a square). Note that differentiation gives the gradient function, whereas integration gives the area under the curve. Since the graph of f(p) from 0 to 1 is symmetric about a square with area 1, then the area under the curve should be equal to ½.1 = ½ and verified using a mathematics software package. And similarly applying this piece of symmetry theory to a cup such as the Davis Cup, one can pour water into the cup whereby tilting the cup until the water is just touching the rim, would then determine whether the Davis Cup is (drum roll) ½ full or ½ empty.

MATHS MATTERS @ KHS 30th reunion                                                                                                                    By Tristan Barnett

On the 21.09.24, Tristan attended the 30th reunion Killara High School for the class of 1994. Since, 21+9=30 and 30-24=6 (where 6 is a perfect number 3+2+1=6), implies that maths was taught in class 30 years ago. Both tennis and maths are major likes for Tristan as documented in the class of 1994 yearbook and this is most applicable in the real-world through Novak Djokovic, where e=2.71…… is a transcendental number, COVIDjok is an anagram of Djokovic and Novak was denied up to 3 slams due to COVID. Thus, how many slams was Novak expected to win due to COVID to complete the Novak COVIDjok?  Also documented in the class of 1994 yearbook is Tristan’s hero chemistry teacher Matthew (Matt) Murphy, which is quite fitting since bitartrates (an anion which is the conjugate base of tartaric acid) is the longest word obtained out of Tristan Barnett. Now Tristan turned up to the 30th reunion to reflect his likes of maths and tennis using the Novak COVIDjok2.71….. with nail polish in the order of 2 white, 7 gold and 1 white. It is also noted that Don White was Tristan’s maths teacher in 1994 and Michael Gold was the principal. Thus, how can maths be used to highlight Matthew, Don and Michael using the Novak COVIDjok2.71…. with Tristan’s nail polish in the order of 2 white, 7 gold and 1 white? Solving the first part of the problem is relatively simple given the gold and white references. Michael has 7 letters and Don has 2+1=3 letters, which are reflected by the arrangement of Tristan’s nail polish of 2 white, 7 gold and 1 white given the last names of Gold and White from Michael and Don respectively. The second part of the problem to reflect Tristan’s hero Matthew Murphy requires ingenuity, such that Dan Murphy’s is a liquor chain and vodka can be obtained out of Novak Djokovic (or dovak anagram). Now Matthew has 7 letters (in reference to the 7 gold) and Dan has 3 letters (in reference to the 3 white). MATHS MATTERS

Finding the GOAT

If we assume that the GOAT is based on the number of Grand Slam wins then the problem is multidimensional given that there are 3 formats in tennis at a Grand Slam level (singles, doubles and mixed doubles) and there are 4 Grand Slams played on different surfaces. Thus, in determining the GOAT based on Grand Slam wins it is necessary to compare for the leading Grand Slam winners statistics such as the total number of  Grand Slams, total number of singles, total number of doubles, total number of mixed doubles, maximum number out of each of the 3 formats, maximum number out of each of the 4 Grand Slams and the maximum number out of each of the 3 formats at a particular Grand Slam. Below have been identified as contenders for GOAT based on their Grand Slam results.   

• Margaret Court 64 slams (24 singles, 19 doubles, 21 mixed doubles, 23 Australian Open titles, 11 Australian Open singles)
• Martina Navratilova 59 slams (18 singles, 31 doubles, 10 mixed doubles, 20 Wimbledon titles, 9 Wimbledon singles)
• Novak Djokovic 24 slams (24 singles, 10 Australian Open singles). Denied 3 slams due to COVID?
• Rafael Nadal 22 slams (22 singles, 14 French Open singles)
• Rod Laver 20 slams (11 singles, 6 doubles, 3 mixed doubles). How many slams would Laver have won when competing as a professional between 1963-1968?
• Ken Rosewall 18 slams (8 singles, 9 doubles, 1 mixed doubles, 7 Australian Open titles, 4 Australian Open singles). How many slams would Rosewall have won when competing as a professional between 1956-1968?    

Regulations

Scoring Systems

• Extend the length of Grand Slam tournaments from 14 days to 15 or 16 days
• Replace the deuce and NoAd game with a 50-40 game (server has to win 4 points and receiver only has to win 3 points) in all tennis formats 
• Adopt a final advantage set in men’s and women’s singles Grand Slam events (assuming a 50-40 game is implemented)

Court Surface

• Adopt an outdoor surface as typically applied to Grand Slam tournaments at the ATP/WTA Tour Finals end of year event
• Rotate each year between grass, hard and a clay surface at the ATP/WTA Tour Finals  
• Include more grass court tournaments on the ATP/WTA tours which conveniently could be applied after the US Open

Performance

Match Statistics 

• Match statistics data can be obtained from OnCourt (oncourt.info) for most matches on the ATP and WTA tour since 2003

Point-by-point data 

• Point-by-point data can be obtained from OnCourt for most matches on the ATP and WTA tour since 2003. A programmer could extract the data into a spreadsheet or database package

Resource Allocation 

• Players should increase their effort on the more important points such as 30-40 in a game, points in a tiebreak game and near the end of close matches. This is achieved by chasing down every ball. Players should decrease their effort on the lesser important points such as being ahead on the set score and down a break in the current set. This is achieved by taking more risk on the 2nd serve, finishing the point faster by taking more risk and not expending all efforts to run down every ball.

Serving Strategies 

• Using OnCourt data and live match statistics game theoretic analysis can be used to determine how often a player should take more risk on the second serve throughout a match in progress.

Game Theory Strategies 

• Game theoretic analysis can be used to determine how often a player should serve-and-volley, chip-and-charge to the net and the direction of the serve. 

Yoga Strategies

Roger Federer was winning a higher percentage of points on serve than his opponent but still losing Grand Slam matches due to not winning the important/pressure points and hence `choking’. By following yoga processes Federer would have won at least 4 more slams and potentially up to 10 more slams; and taken Federer to a total of at least 24 slams to put him outright leader in total Grand Slams (in comparison to Djokovic and Nadal). Given that every player has a certain level of anxiety, every tennis coach could adopt these yoga strategies amongst their coaching regimes (where players could potentially be free of all anxieties known as Samadhi or Enlightenment and hence no choking on critical stages of the match). These yoga processes have been identified below.    

• Avoid meat, egg, mushroom, onion, garlic, chives, shallots, leek, alcohol, smoking, cannabis, caffeine, gambling, illicit drugs and illicit sex
• Milk products are necessary as you need your animal fats
• Weekly gardening, wrestling and swimming (preferably at the beach)
• Daily hatha yoga, mindfulness, puja, kirtan, Japa, Arati, dharma talks, Bhagavatam talks, mathematics and arts-and-crafts 
• Listen to music frequently
• Don’t accumulate wealth (build or donate to a foundation)
• 6 hours of sleep maximum per night
• Eat prasadam (spiritualized vegetarian food) and karma free milk products
• Read Krishna Consciousness books including the Bhagavad Gita As It Is (at least 3 times)