Echizen Ryoma

Ryoma is a first year student at Seishun Academy, where he begins attending immediately after his arrival in Japan after residing in the United States. Although only a first year in middle school, Ryoma had already earned notoriety through winning four consecutive titles in the American Junior Tennis tournaments – all in a little over a year. Due to his nearly invincible tennis play, Ryoma has earned the label 'prodigy' by the age of twelve. His looks and confidence make him highly popular with ladies, although he seems not to notice, having his focus exclusively on tennis.

He is an all-court tennis player with many special shots and abilities. One of Ryoma's greatest talents is his ability to learn new techniques after only seeing them performed a few times. He also has an amazing amount of stamina and doesn't sweat as much as the other players. Along with fellow Seigaku regular Eiji Kikumaru, Ryoma is known to have an exceptional talent for seeing moving objects. He doesn't go easy on himself and pushes himself more rather than letting himself rest.

Although he is left-handed, his famous Twist Serve is only effective when delivered from the dominant hand of his opponents (i.e. he uses his right hand when serving against right handed players). He occasionally plays tennis with his right hand as either a handicap for weaker opponents or a way to test his opponent's abilities. When the need for returning at a difficult angle or distance arises, Ryoma also incorporates the use of "nitōryū" or ambidexterity.

Ryoma demonstrates prowess in other sports, such as bowling, table tennis, and billiards; his abilities in beach volleyball, however, may be questioned. When the Seigaku students go to the beach during the anime series, Ryoma plays well when paired with Kaidoh. However, he plays quite poorly in the OVA when paired with Tezuka, so much as to be taunted by the other Seigaku students and Rokkaku Chuu students alike by having his "Mada mada dane" returned with "Omae danna!", which translates roughly into "You do!" In the same event in the manga, Ryoma (paired with Rokkaku's Kentaro Aoi instead) plays decently only after activating Muga no Kyōchi.

His favorite subject is Science, though he is better at English because he was in America for three years (his classmates admire him for that). Ryoma also has an attitude of being really distrustful of other tennis players.

His catchphrase in the Japanese anime is "mada mada dane," literally meaning "no, not yet" or "not good enough." In Prince of Tennis English dub, this is translated as "You still have a ways to go." Having been brought up in the United States, Ryoma is fluent in English, and in the manga and the match with Sanada in the anime, he says "You still have lots more to work on."