Ryoma Echizen (Echizen Ryōma) is the main character of the manga and anime, The Prince of Tennis.

The rather aloof Ryoma is a student at Seishun Academy Middle School (Seigaku) where he transferred to from the United States. Although only a freshman, Ryoma's brilliant tennis skills had previously earned him a background of winning four consecutive titles in the American Junior Tennis tournaments - all in a little over a year. Due to his nearly invincible tennis play, at the age of twelve, Ryoma is already labeled as a genius.

He is an all-round tennis player and his special abilities are Twist Serve, One-Footed Split-Step, Cyclone Smash (or Cool Drive in the manga), and Drive Volley, such as "Drive B" and "Drive A". Above all his Twist Serve is powerful. With his amazing control, the ball spins at the opponent's face with amazing speed and powerful spin. 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 (ex. he uses his right hand when serving against right handed players and vice versa). He sometime plays the game with his right hand. This is mainly used as either a handicap for weaker opponents and as a way to test his opponents abilities. When the need for returning at a difficult angle or distance arises, Ryoma also incorporates the use of "nitoryū" or ambidexterity.

His catchphrase is "mada mada dane," literally meaning "no, not yet." Depending on the context, it can either mean "you're still not there yet" (to an opponent) or "it's not over yet." (Having been brought up in the United States most of his life, Ryoma is fluent in English, and in the manga, he says "You still have lots more to work on.")
Ryoma Echizen can be quite cocky and arrogant at times, but he 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. Only after when he beat 2 of Seigaku's regulars did he gain respect with fellow club members. Because of his tennis skills, people are beginning to wonder about the "amazing freshmen."

Echizen is a quiet kid, but he always stands up for himself and for others. If this means talking back to an upperclassmen, he'll do it. He is not afraid and is always ready to push the limits. Rarely does he get angry or out of control. Much of the time, he is serious, quiet, and untalkative. Sakuno Ryuzaki, a friend of his and coach Ryuuzaki's granddaughter, has a big crush on Ryoma (more obvious in the anime than in the manga, though), but because he is so aloof, he does not recognize her feelings for him. Echizen is very popular with girls, and he does not recognize this at all.

At the beginning of the series, all of Ryoma's tennis skills were a copy of his father's; former tennis pro Nanjiro Echizen. With the help of his team captain Kunimitsu Tezuka, Echizen realizes he needs to develop his own style of tennis, especially if he wants to fulfill his dream of finally defeating his father.
With each match, it becomes apparent that Ryoma not only brings his potential to the front, but that he is constantly reaching a new point in the state of self-actualization - especially so during crucial points in a match. Although he views each opponent as a stepping stone of advancement, Tezuka soon becomes the wall that Ryoma has set up for himself in order to achieve actual greatness. We see a little interaction between Shusuke Fuji and Ryoma in the anime, although this is left somewhat unexplored and open-ended.

Although Ryoma has a rather tunneled vision as to whom he considers a rival, (Tezuka and his father) there are many that view the freshman as just that. One of the more notable examples of this in the anime is Kevin Smith, the son of the tennis coach George Smith, the man who was defeated by Nanjiro Echizen in defense of George's pupil Rinko Takeuchi, who'd later become Ryoma's mother, 15 years ago. Kevin appeared later in the series in the "friendly" match between the U.S. and Japan. Kevin became obssessed with wanting to play Ryoma because of their pasts, whereas, in the beginning Ryoma regarded Kevin's threats with a rather unconcerned attitude.

Many of the characters in the anime, especially the members of the Seigaku tennis team, have very defined personalities, whether it be friendly, outgoing, passionate, or arrogant. Due to his excellent tennis skills and past accomplishments, Ryoma's confidence has frequently (and inaccurately) placed him in the last category. He appears cocky, but this is mainly kept on the courts where he employs it as a psychological tactic against his opponents. He is sarcastic in a lot of areas, yet quiet for the majority during any interaction with most of the characters in the anime, and he appears to be somewhat dense when it comes to human nature outside of tennis. Despite the boy's emotionless exterior, he does carry a friendship with his senpai, Momoshiro.

He also (temp.?) gains an ability called "The Samurai's Eye", which allows him to perfectly mimic every tennis player's move shown in the series, which he uses in the last match of the Kanto Regional tournament against Sanada Genichirou. In the Manga for the series, Ryoma learns a much different set of techniques before facing Sanada in the Kantou Regional Tournament Finals. He learns "Muga no Kyouchi" (also known as State of Self-Actualization) during a recreational match against Rikkaidai's Kirihara Akaya. He later master's his COOL Drive technique during the match against Sanada (which he uses as his finishing technique to win). More moves that he has learned (during or while training for the Nationals) include the Drive C and Drive D.

Stats
Class: First year
Weight: 106 lb
Height: 151 cm
DOB: December 24th
Favorite Color: Silver
Favorite Subject: Science
Hobbies: Trying out different bath salts
Racket: Bridgestone (Dynabeam Grandae)
Clothing: FilaShoes: Fila
Family: Nanjiro Echizen (father), Rinko Echizen (mother, maiden name Takeuchi), Nanako Meino (cousin), Ryoga (brother - movie only), Karupin (cat)

Techniques
Twist Serve (ツイスト サーブ) - A Twist Serve
Twist Smash (ツイスト スマッシュ) - The Twist Serve in the form of a smash
Twist serve tornado - The Twist Serve curves to the face in an abnormal way (anime ova)
Drive A (ドライブ A) - A drive volley hit and point blank range
Drive B (ドライブ B) - A drive volley that two quick consecutive bounce arcs
Drive C (ドライブ C) - A COOL Drive with half the spin (manga only)
Drive D (ドライブ D) - A drive that follows up a returned Drive B, it has half the spin of the Drive B, but the speed of the return is enough to get the ball past most players. (manga only)
COOL Drive (COOL ドライブ) - A powerful smash with a huge spin that makes the ball roll instead of bouncing up (manga only)
Muga no Kyouchi (無我の境地)- A state in which the user naturally intakes all techniques he sees and can perfectly copy them (manga only)
One-footed Split Step (片足スプリットステップ) - A split step using one foot. This allows the user to cover the entire court very quickly
Nitouryu (二刀流) - the name given to Ryoma's ambidexterity because he can play with either hand
Cyclone Smash (サイクロン スマッシュ) - An extraordinarily powerful smash done by jumping high into the air and twisting then un-twisting the body back on to the ball (anime only)
Samurai's Eye (侍の目) - The anime version of Muga no Kyouchi, described as giving Ryoma a very dynamic play style because he is able to switch between many other player's techniques

Notes
The JTA (Japanese Tennis Association) has accepted Ryoma Echizen as a formal image character of the organization.