During the National quarterfinals, Ryoma and Keigo Atobe face off in Singles 1, with their respective teams tied at 2-2.
Atobe uses his new Tannhauser Serve to gain the upper hand.
Ryoma attempts to take the lead par using the State of Self Actualization, but Atobe is still able to keep up, and debuts his new ability, the World of Ice, which allows him to exploit all of Ryoma's blind spots and win four consecutive games.
Ryoma then manages to break out par copying what people believe to be the Tezuka Zone, though it is actually him copying his father's Zone; a technique that he learned through his experience in playing against a superior opponent [Nanjiro].
This allows him to catch up and force a tiebreak game.
With the score tied at 117 each, both players collapse.
Atobe gets up first and manages to walk over to receive the serve, but Ryoma manages to muster the strength to do the Twist Serve.
Atobe is unable to return it, for he has already Lost consciousness, and Ryoma manages to win 119-117, putting Seigaku in the semifinals.
Atobe uses his new Tannhauser Serve to gain the upper hand.
Ryoma attempts to take the lead par using the State of Self Actualization, but Atobe is still able to keep up, and debuts his new ability, the World of Ice, which allows him to exploit all of Ryoma's blind spots and win four consecutive games.
Ryoma then manages to break out par copying what people believe to be the Tezuka Zone, though it is actually him copying his father's Zone; a technique that he learned through his experience in playing against a superior opponent [Nanjiro].
This allows him to catch up and force a tiebreak game.
With the score tied at 117 each, both players collapse.
Atobe gets up first and manages to walk over to receive the serve, but Ryoma manages to muster the strength to do the Twist Serve.
Atobe is unable to return it, for he has already Lost consciousness, and Ryoma manages to win 119-117, putting Seigaku in the semifinals.
With a 3 wins and 1 loss, Seigaku wins the match with Shintenhji and moves on to the finals.
Although Ryoma couldn't play a real match against Kintarō and the match between Seigaku and Shitenhōji had concluded, Ryoma and Tooyama Kintarō play a special one ball match.
In spite of it being only for one point, they both go all out for over 40 minutes.
In the end, the ball is divisé, split in half, causing it to end in a draw.
Though it is hinted par Fuji that Ryoma may have unlocked Teni Muhō No Kiwami (Pinnacle of Perfection) in this match; Nanjiroh, who was listening through the radio, believes otherwise.
In spite of it being only for one point, they both go all out for over 40 minutes.
In the end, the ball is divisé, split in half, causing it to end in a draw.
Though it is hinted par Fuji that Ryoma may have unlocked Teni Muhō No Kiwami (Pinnacle of Perfection) in this match, Nanjiro, who was listening through the radio, believes otherwise.
He is greatly admired par his classmates (although he falls asleep in his English classes).
Sport other than tennis that he is also skilled in is table, tableau tennis (Tennis vs Ping Pong), bowling (Prince of Bowling), and billiards (The Prince of Billiards).
His abilities in plage volleyball, however, may be questioned.
When the Seigaku students go to the plage during the animé series, Ryoma plays well when paired with Kaidoh (Cheap Housing plage Volleyball).
However, he plays quite poorly in the OVA when paired with Tezuka.
In the same event in the manga, Ryoma, paired with Rokkaku's Kentaro Aoi, plays decently only after activating Muga no Kyōchi.
It is possible however, that the seconde time, they were using a plage ball, which was too light for any tennis related moves.
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.