hand. He defeated Murray at Niagara-on-the-Lake a week later.
Murray barely nosed out the Japanese star at Cleveland in five
sets after Kumagae had the match won, only to have Kumagae again
defeat him in a terrific match at Newport in August.

Kumagae's game is very effective against Murray, because Murray,
essentially a volleyer, could not exchange ground strokes with
the Japanese star player successfully, and could not stand the
terrific pace of rushing the net at every opportunity. Kumagae
conclusively proved his slight superiority over Murray last
season.

Vincent Richards, who is not yet the equal of Murray, scored two
clean-cut victories over Kumagae during the same period. Why
should Richards worry Kumagae, who is certainly Murray's
superior, and yet not cause Murray trouble?

The answer lies in this style of game. Richards uses a peculiar
chop stroke from the baseline that is very steady. He can meet
Kumagae at his own baseline game until he gets a chance to close
in to the net, where his volleying is remarkable. The result is,
against Kumagae's driving he is perfectly at home. Murray is a
vicious net player who swept Richards off his feet. The boy has
not the speed on his ground strokes to pass Murray, who volleys
off his chop for points, and cannot take the net away from him as
he cannot handle the terrific speed of Murray's game. Thus
Murray's speed beats Richards, while Richards' steadiness
troubles Kumagae, yet Kumagae's persistent driving tires Murray
and beats him. What good are comparative scores?