Prince of Tennis

Echizen Ryoma is a young tennis prodigy who has won 4 consecutive tennis championships but who constantly lies in the shadow of his father, a former pro tennis player. He joins the Seishun Gakuen junior highschool, one of the best tennis schools in Japan, and there along with his teamates he learns to find his own type of tennis in an attempt to defeat his biggest obstacle of all: his father as well as himself.

Ryoma Echizen

Ryoma is a first year student at Seishun Academy Middle School, where he begins attending immediately after his arrival in Japan after residing in the United States. Although only a freshman, 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 'genius' by the age of twelve. His looks and confidence make him highly popular with girls, although he seems not to notice, having his focus exclusively on tennis.
He is an all-round tennis player with many special shots and abilities. One of Ryoma's greatest talents is his ability to learn new techniques at an amazingly fast pace.
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 "nitoryū" or ambidexterity.
His catchphrase in the Japanese anime is "mada mada dane," literally meaning "no, not yet." Depending on the context, it can either mean "you still have lots more to work on" (to an opponent) or "it's not over yet." In Prince of Tennis's 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."
Ryoma can be quite cocky and arrogant at times, but is always able to back up his statements with his tennis skills. Often before a match, Ryoma will provoke his opponent. In the beginning of the series, Ryoma was not taken seriously by the other students at his school, and especially at Seigaku tennis club. It was only after he had beaten two of Seigaku's regulars that he gained respect with fellow club members.

Kunimitsu Tezuka

Tezuka is the captain of the tennis club and a third year student at Seishun Academy Middle School (full name Seishun Gakuen), or Seigaku. He is an incredibly talented player and went to Nationals the year before the series takes place. Tezuka is serious about everything he does, and he is very strict - one of his trademark phrases is "Do not let your guard down". His special moves include his "zero-shiki drop shot", his "Tezuka Zone", and his "Hyaku Ren Jitoku no Kiwami".
As a first-year student, Tezuka was seen as overconfident and arrogant by the upperclassmen at Seigaku due to his talents and seriousness, especially when they discovered that he was left-handed even though he played with his right. A jealous teammate then injured Tezuka's left arm, leading to chronic problems. By his third year, it has mostly healed, but the doctor still warns Tezuka against long matches and using his drop shot. Tezuka considers his health secondary to the team's success, and he reinjures his arm in a grueling tie-break match against Keigo Atobe of Hyotei Gakuen. In the manga, he is sent to a health clinic in Kyūshū, but in the anime, he is sent to a health clinic in Germany, where he hopes to recuperate in order to play at Nationals.
Tezuka shows a strong interest in Ryoma Echizen, possibly because Echizen reminds him of himself as a first-year. He plays against Echizen full-strength, despite the risk of re-injuring his arm, in order to convince him that he needs to become more than a clone of his father. He hopes that Echizen will succeed him as Seigaku's pillar of support.

Shusuke Fuji

Shusuke Fuji is a third year student at Seishun Academy, and is approaching fifteen years of age at the beginning of the series. He is given the title 'tensai', or genius, owing to his tactical skill on the tennis court. He is in the same class as Eiji Kikumaru, and is Eiji's good friend. Fuji is a leap year baby (his birthday is on February 29), and thus he can only properly celebrate his birthday once every four years. Fuji is cheerful and easygoing, with a penchant for playfully teasing those around him.
Fuji grew up in Chiba, where he became friends with Kojirou Saeki, the current vice-captain of the Rokkaku Chuu Tennis Club. Later on, he moved to Tokyo and entered Seigaku.
Fuji has an older sister, Yumiko, and a younger brother, Yuuta Fuji. Fuji is particularly protective of Yuuta (probably to make up for former disagreements that almost brought them apart), as is displayed throughout the series, as he actively tries to "destroy" and punish those who have defeated his younger brother or have made him go through something dangerous (as proved by how differently he treats Jiroh Akutagawa from Hyoutei and Hajime Mizuki from Saint Rudolph; he holds no personal grudge towards Jiroh, who won fairly against Yuuta, but resents Mizuki for a long time after seeing how he treated his brother as someone expendable to ensure his team's victory), with the exception of the aforementioned Jiroh and Ryoma Echizen. It's later revealed that Fuji felt guilty for a long time since he couldn't bring himself to tell yuuta that he was sorry for all that he went through.
Yuuta isn't also the only person he's been protective of in this sense; in the anime, he is very upset when Kippei Tachibana is injured in his match against Akaya Kirihara. He is also upset when Akaya Kirihara insults the two schools (Seigaku and Fudomine); Kirihara says that both teams have retired captains because they aren't practicing (this is due to Seigaku captain Kunimitsu Tezuka and Fudomine captain Tachibana both being injured).
Fuji is often seen with a calm and content expression on his face, with his eyes seemingly closed from lightly smiling. However, when he is excited or provoked, or when playing seriously, Fuji reveals his sharp eyes: they are blue in the anime and light brown in the manga.
Fuji differs from almost every other character in Prince of Tennis in that he enjoys playing around when his opponent is pushing himself to the limit, giving many the impression that either Fuji is a fearsome sadist or that he doesn't really care about tennis itself. There are few people that can wake the sleeping genius in Fuji and force him to play seriously, and these few are either nationally-ranked or extremely talented tennis players. Seigaku captain Kunimitsu Tezuka, Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku regular Akaya Kirihara, Seigaku regular Ryoma Echizen, and Shitenhouji captain Kuranosuke Shiraishi have been acknowledged by Fuji to be actual challenges.

Shuichiro Oishi

Oishi is a third year student at Seishun Academy Middle School (Seigaku) and the vice-captain of the tennis club. Along with Eiji Kikumaru he is part of Seigaku's "Golden Pair," a doubles team that made it to Nationals the year before the series takes place. His special shots include the "Moon Volley." This shot is a topspin lob that travels very high and lands just inbounds. Oishi is calm and rational in a match, and while he is not the greatest of singles players, as a doubles partner he is the perfect complement for the acrobatic Eiji.
Oishi is known as the mother of Seigaku, because he constantly worries and frets for the team's well-being. This doesn't mean that he cannot crack or even be mean, though; he can be as spiteful as the others, as proved when Eiji went too far with his teasing during a training session prior to the Hyoutei matches and Oishi ended up slapping Eiji to the ground in front of everyone.
He is also notable for his strange hairstyle (which changed every year) and his pet fish. In the absence of the team's captain, Kunimitsu Tezuka, Oishi reluctantly takes on the position of temporary captain.
Oishi and Tezuka initialy became friends in their first year on the club. Oishi had proposed to Tezuka that they take Seigaku to the Kantou Tournament during their time at the school, but Tezuka responded that they should go to the Nationals.
At one point, when Kikumaru was still a flashy singles player, Oishi played him and defeated him 6-4. From that point on, Kikumaru decided to play Doubles with Oishi until he could surpass him. Prior to the Kantou Tournament, Oishi's wrist is injured during an incident where he saves a pregnant woman from falling. His injury forces Takeshi Momoshiro to play doubles with Eiji Kikumaru. The match that ensues is remarked upon by Hyotei captain Keigo Atobe to be played not with just Momoshiro and Kikumaru, but with Oishi, as well - a doubles game with three.

Eiji Kikumaru

Eiji Kikumaru is a third year student at Seishun Academy Middle School (Seigaku). He is in the same class as Shusuke Fuji and happens to be his best friend also.
He is part of the "Golden Pair" along with Shuichiro Oishi. Using his acrobatic play, he can return almost any ball that would usually seem out of human reach. Eiji is also known to have the sharpest vision on the team, with an exceptional talent for seeing moving objects. This proves to be both a strength and a weakness, especially when matched against St. Rudolph's Akazawa, the captain of that tennis team. Other than his well known style of acrobatic play, he has his own signature smash move called " Kikumaru Beam ", which is essentially a very high, behind the back smash that is launched either at the corner of the opponents court, or directly at the opponent.
Though the Golden Pair seldom play without each other, Eiji has been paired with his friend Shusuke Fuji, Seigaku's genius, to form the Dream Pair, as well as forming a makeshift pair with Takeshi Momoshiro when Oishi suffers an injury to his right wrist when he was trying to save a pregnant woman from rolling off the stairs before a match. In the Nationals story arc of the manga, Eiji plays singles after Oishi gave his spot to the fully recuperated Ryoma Echizen. He says that if Oishi will not be his partner, that he refuses to play doubles anymore. After his first match against Higa Middle School, however, he proclaims that playing singles tennis is too lonely, and the Golden Pair becomes a team again.
Eiji's main weakness is a lack of stamina. However, Eiji seems to have overcome this weakness later on in the anime. His main rival is Hyotei Gakuen's Gakuto Mukahi, another acrobatic player who is extremely light and surpasses Eiji in acrobatic play.
Although Oishi and Eiji get along very well and the two together form the famous "Golden Pair," they do have their disagreements. When Momoshiro was dropped from the Regulars and stopped attending practice, Eiji was making jokes that Oishi found insensitive. Eiji then made fun of the fact that Oishi's shirt was inside out causing the vice-captain to snap and slap Eiji across the courts. The Golden Pair stopped talking to each other until Momoshiro returned to team practices.

Takashi Kawamura

Kawamura joined Seigaku's tennis club as a first year student. Although he had a lot of power, he was ridiculed by many of the older members of the club because he had no other skills, and couldn't make successful shots. However, he found close friends in his fellow first years, most of whom were notoriously skilled, such as Kunimitsu Tezuka, Shusuke Fuji, Shuichiro Oishi, Eiji Kikumaru, and Sadaharu Inui. Together with them, he became a part of Seigaku's future.
He is currently a third year student, and in this year he has finally made it as one of the tennis team's Regulars. He also works at his father's sushi shop, and intends to quit tennis after middle school to concentrate on his future career as a sushi chef. His goal is to own the #1 Sushi store in Japan.
Often referred to as "Taka-san", Kawamura specializes in power tennis. He has been paired with Syusuke Fuji and Takeshi Momoshiro in doubles. He's also an old friend of Yamabuki player Jin Akutsu, whom he met in a karate dojo before he started playing tennis; when Akutsu retires from tennis after Yamabuki's loss to Seigaku, he makes Kawamura promise that he'll work hard in tennis from then on.
Prior to Seigaku beginning the Nationals, Kawamura makes a vow to become the #1 Power Player at the National Level. In the national semifinals, he plays 2 singles against Shitenhouji's Gin Ishida who knows 108 styles of Hadokyuu, who appears to currently be the #1 Power Player. Kawamura's top shot is the Hadokyuu, which he originally learned after seeing it performed by Fudomine's Tetsu Ishida, the younger brother of Gin.
After losing 23 points in a row to the first 23 styles of Hadoukyou, he is down 5-0, 40-0 when he is knocked into the stands, where he is caught by Akutsu. Inspired by Akutsu, Kawamura returns newly awakened and begins hitting Hadokyou's again.His final shot, what he called his final hadokyuu, was not truly a hadokyuu. He injures Gin's wrist because Gin is only able to nullify hadokyuu shots, forcing him to forfeit and making Taka the #1 Power Player in Junior High School.

Sadaharu Inui

Three years prior to the start of the series, Inui and Renji Yanagi were an unstoppable Elementary School Doubles Pairing. Unfortunately, their doubles pairing was ended when Yanagi suddenly moved to the Kanagawa Prefecture.
Inui is a highly intelligent player. He plays what he calls "Data Tennis," which involves collecting and analysing data for a player in order to determine weaknesses. He is even able to determine the exact probability of certain shots being successful. The Data Tennis style actually originated from Yanagi. To his surprise, Data Tennis does not work against Ryoma Echizen who evolves over the course of a match. Inui also finds it difficult to get accurate data on Shusuke Fuji and Kunimitsu Tezuka.
Inui was beaten by Kaidoh at the beginning of the series, becoming the team's manager. He uses his data to create exercise programs for the team. His most hated innovation would have to be his "Inui Juice" or "Penal Tea" (penalty), a disgusting health drink which is used as punishment. The contents of "Inui Juice" are unknown, but Inui is always coming up with new and "better" recipes. In one episode, when the team went bowling, Inui's new invention "Aouzu" knocked out Kaidou and even Fuji who actually enjoyed drinking the "Inui Juice" or "Penal Tea".
Eventually, Inui is able to make it back as a regular by using the data he obtained over the time he was manager, losing to Kunimitsu Tezuka but beating Takeshi Momoshiro. While he's a very good singles player, he usually plays doubles with various partners, most notably his sort-of protegé Kaoru Kaidoh.

Takeshi Momoshiro

Momoshiro is known as Seigaku’s number one rascal. He really wants to be liked by everyone, which is evident by his preference to be called "Momo-chan," even by the freshmen. As a compromise, some of the freshman call him "Momo-chan-senpai" while the third years call him by "Momo."
At the beginning of the series, he played an unfinished match with Ryoma Echizen (He did this to see the twist serve), though Momoshiro was injured at the time. Later, they become best friends and even doubles partners for once. Momoshiro's signature move is the "dunk smash," a very powerful response to lobs as he leaps several feet into the air, which he likes to finish off saying, "Don," upon landing. He later develops the "Jack Knife," a strong backhand shot.
Momoshiro is an aggressive baseliner. For a short time, he is cut from the regulars, after losing to Inui and Tezuka during Seigaku's 2nd monthly ranking matches. He takes being cut pretty hard and doesn't show up to practices for three days, leading the first years to think that Momo has quit the club. Instead of going to practice, he spent his time playing street tennis; however, as he plays a match with An Tachibana, a good friend of his, he realizes his flaws as a tennis player and realizes that in order for him to become stronger, he needs to stop underestimating his opponents. It is during this time that Momoshiro's importance to Seigaku as a team is revealed.
As the player who is the most open and friendly with everyone, Momoshiro is connected to everyone on the team on some level. And as such, he's one of the few members on the team that everyone seems to care about, which is why his disappearance affects all the regulars in some way. Momo being cut from the team even leads to the temporary break up of the Golden Pair and even Eiji notes how practices are not the same without Momo around. Although Ryoma, in particular, seems unconcerned about Momo being cut from the team, in reality, he is worried about Momoshiro and goes looking for him during lunch period; a moment that reveals both how important Momo's friendship is to Ryoma and how important Momo is to Seigaku. Thus, when Momoshiro returns to practices, all seems right with the team again, although Tezuka punishes him for missing practice by making him run a record high of 100 laps. This is also when Momoshiro as a character is revealed in that Momo doesn't worry about taking himself too seriously and despite being cut from the team, he is determined to support and cheer his teammates on as they face Hyotei in the Regionals.

Kaoru Kaidoh

Kaidoh's nickname is "Mamushi", or the "Viper," which fits him well. He wears a bandana (in the anime, it's orange until episode 12 when it changed permanently to green) and often exhales making a "fshuuuu" sound, similar to a snake. Understandably, Kaidoh does not like this nickname, and often reacts badly when called that within earshot, especially if the person uttering the nickname is Takeshi Momoshiro or Akira Kamio (he once even comes to try hitting Kamio during the Fudomine matches, placing Tezuka in a rather uncomfortable situation).
His signature move is the "Snake" (also called "The Buggy Whip Shot"), a curving forehand that keeps his opponents running. He later develops the "Boomerang Snake," which is a shot that swerves out of bounds, around the net pole, and back in bounds. He developed the shot under Inui's advice and by working with him in doubles. Kaidoh trains rigorously, increasing the training program given to him by his sort-of mentor Sadaharu Inui to give him unbeatable endurance. Both he and Takeshi Momoshiro are second year regulars and rivals. They constantly try to one-up each other, which is actually beneficial for the growth of their tennis skills; this makes them extremely powerful as a doubles pair, because the two rivals know each other so well.
Kaidoh and Sadaharu Inui also make an excellent doubles pair, mostly because after beating Inui himself during the same line-up matches where Ryoma became a regular, Inui has seen Kaidoh's potential and has taken him under his wing.