Seigaku's first round's matches start with Higa Middle School.
Ryoma faces Tanishi Kei in Singles 3, and shows his souvenir from America - the COOL Drive.
Ryoma continuously uses Drive C which everyone believes to be his COOL Drive, but he reveals that his COOL Drive has twice the spin of Drive Cs.
However, Tanishi's Big Bang Serve allows him to win all of his service games, while Ryoma manages to win all of his, forcing a tiebreak.
It is there that Ryoma manages to return the Big Bang Serve.
Ryoma had not let on to the fact that the serve had been weakening in power as the games progressed; as such, Tanishi was unaware of his own weakness, allowing Ryoma to get a return ace.
Finally montrer the true COOL Drive, Tanishi attempts to return it before it can land, however, when the ball hits Tanishi's raquet the amazing spin he puts on it forces the ball to greatly hit Tanishi's face.
Ryoma takes the first win for Seigaku.
Ryoma faces Tanishi Kei in Singles 3, and shows his souvenir from America - the COOL Drive.
Ryoma continuously uses Drive C which everyone believes to be his COOL Drive, but he reveals that his COOL Drive has twice the spin of Drive Cs.
However, Tanishi's Big Bang Serve allows him to win all of his service games, while Ryoma manages to win all of his, forcing a tiebreak.
It is there that Ryoma manages to return the Big Bang Serve.
Ryoma had not let on to the fact that the serve had been weakening in power as the games progressed; as such, Tanishi was unaware of his own weakness, allowing Ryoma to get a return ace.
Finally montrer the true COOL Drive, Tanishi attempts to return it before it can land, however, when the ball hits Tanishi's raquet the amazing spin he puts on it forces the ball to greatly hit Tanishi's face.
Ryoma takes the first win for Seigaku.
Ryoma usually slides up near the net and then jumps to perform the Drive B.
However, during his match against Aoi Kentarō, Ryoma also uses a Drive B when he is still sliding on the ground.
He then uses the force made par the ball to go even faster.
Though it grants him plus speed, this version lacks the regular Drive B height; due to the topsin, it curves towards the ground instead of going out.
It may be defeated par direct smash.
This is Ryoma's first original shot (as opposed to moves he copies from other players), and is first used in his match against Fuji Yūta.
Besides the twist serve, it probably is his most notable shot, In the English dub, it has been renamed Drive V.
However, after throwing the ball up into the air to serve it, the body jumps vers l'avant, vers l’avant to hit the ball, resulting in a fast serve.
It's not his serve at all, Matsudaira Chikao, who is in Court 10, used his 'best and fastest' serve, which Ryoma, in return, commenté how slow it was, and used it after letting Matsudaira enjoy his 10 minutes of fame.
Echizen Ryoma
Kanji -
越前 リョーマ
Romaji -
Echizen Ryōma
Nicknames -
Prince of Tennis
Samurai Jr.
Super Rookie of the East
Super Freshman
Seigaku's Pillar of Support
Ochibi (by Kikumaru Eiji)
Chibisuke (Ryoga Echizen)
Brat (by Akutsu Jin)
Koshimae (Kintarō Tōyama)
tennis No Ojisama (by Keigo Atobe)
Seishonen (by Nanjirō Echizen)
Samurai (by Ken)
Heralded Newcomer (by Arai Masashi)
School and Class -
Seishun Academy (1st Year), 1-2 #4
Height (cm) and Blood Type -
151, O
Birthday -
December 24
Notable Relatives -
Nanjiro Echizen (Father)
Rinko Echizen (Mother)
Ryoga Echizen (Brother)
Nanako Meino (Cousin)
In the OVA, Ryoma tried to use the twist serve in a slanted court, which resulted in the bounce of the serve being too weak and making it easy to return (basically, it failed
Ryoma then adjusted his grip to make the twist serve bounce as it would normally in a court, and when used in a regular court, it became an irregular bounce.
He uses it on Sasabe - the older brother.
*It only appears in The Prince Of tennis OVA Episode 27, which most known as The Prince Of tennis OVA: A jour On Survival Mountain
He played in Singles 3, beating Yuuta Fuji 6-4.
It was during this match that he invented Drive B, his first original signature shot.
He also utilized the Super Rising, but it was not perfected.
In the semi-finals, Ryoma did not get to play as Ginka forfeited because of a "stomach ache" (they were afraid of Seigaku's regulars).
In the finals, against Yamabuki, he played in Singles 2, beating Yamabuki's Jin Akutsu 6-4, leading his team to the Kanto tournament.
It was in this stage that Ryoma perfected the Super Rising and invented a new shot, Drive A.
It was here that Ryoma had his revenge (Akutsu had come to Seigaku and served rocks at Echizen and cut his face).
Ryoma was placed in Singles 1, as Tezuka had played in Singles 2 against Kabaji Munehiro.
Both teams get two matches a piece, and Ryoma's opponent was Atobe Keigo, and very soon he proved a tough nut to crack, as Muga no Kyouchi did not work on such a high level player who could handle most techniques like Atobe.
Atobe took the first 4 games with his World of Ice but Ryoma countered it with his "Samurai Zone", forcing the ball towards him.
The game gradually turned into a tiebreak.
They both went all out, and soon the score was 117-117.
Both players had collapsed to exhaustion.
Atobe stood up first, but in the last 12 secondes of the service time, Ryoma manages to stand up and hit 2 twist serves, winning the game 7-6.
After that, Ryoma jumped over the net to shave Atobe's hair (from a bet they placed earlier), but Atobe shaved his own hair despite Taki Haginosuke's objections.
Ryoma uses Drive Cs which everyone believes to be his COOL drive, but he reveals that his COOL drive has twice the spin of Drive Cs.
However, Tanishi's Big Bang Serve allows him to win all of his service games, while Ryoma manages to win all of his, forcing a tiebreak.
It is there that Ryoma manages to return the Big Bang Serve.
Ryoma had not let on to the fact that the serve had been weakening in power as the games progressed; as such, Tanishi was unaware of his own weakness, allowing Ryoma to get a return ace.
Finally montrer the true COOL drive, Tanishi attempts to return it before it can land, however when the ball hits Tanishi's raquet the amazing spin he puts on it forces the ball to greatly hit Tanishi's face.
Ryoma takes the first win for Seigaku.
Because of the tremendous force, the rope slices the ball in half, resulting in both pieces going in different directions.
In the manga, the force of this shot is strong enough to loosen the net itself, while in the OVA, the ball simply gets cut through without even harming the net.
It was first seen during his one-point match against Kintarō Tōyama, but only the outcome of the ball was shown, not the technique itself.
Ryoma first shows how the technique is done during his match against Yukimura Seiichi, which is also when its name is revealed.
He manages to win the first game par using a blitz of techniques, but loses control of the game when fatigue sets in.
While Ryoma manages to keep steady and return Sanada's Fuu, Sanada merely responds par using Ka.
With all hope seeming lost, Ryoma manages to gain a burst of energy and begins fighting back.
Sanada is undaunted, but Ryoma manages to catch up and take the lead.
Sanada goes into the State of Self Actualization himself, determined to end the match, but Ryoma manages to win par debuting his Cool Drive.