Tennis champ Osaka Naomi’s tweet features “Tennis no Ojisama” (Prince of Tennis) character Echizen Ryoma

You have to love Osaka Naomi, for her being a true tennis competitor, a champion but also making anime and manga fans cheer when she tweeted an image of Echizen Ryoma of “Tennis no Ojisama” with the “My husband lol.”.

My husband lol. pic.twitter.com/t66znEMael

— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@Naomi_Osaka_) June 16, 2019

For those not familiar with Echizen Ryoma, back in 1999, tennis player and manga (Japanese comic) artist Konomi Takeshi created a series known as “Tennis no Ojisama” (Prince of Tennis).

Published in Shueisha’s “Weekly Shonen Jump” in July 1999, the series became one of the most popular sports manga series created and would eventually lead to an anime series adaptation by Trans Arts and Nihon Ad Systems & TV Tokyo.  A new sequel titled “Shin Tennis no Ojisama” (New Prince of Tennis) began in 2008.

Suffice to say, the series became an incredible hit and the popular media franchise which would lead to video games and more!

The series begins with a teenage girl named Sakuno Ryuzaki tring to get to the tournament grounds to meet with her grandmother, Sumire Ryuzaki, a high school tennis coach for Seishun.

A group of high schoolers begin bragging about the type of grips, while a 7th grader named Echizen Ryoma is not impressed by the inaccurate information. As Ryoma tries to school the older teenagers, she accidentally gives Ryoma the wrong information of how to get to the tournament grounds and he misses his tournament.

Feeling bad that she gave Ryoma the wrong information, the teenagers on the train spot Ryoma and start teasing him and want to school him on the game of tennis.

And immediately, the 7th grader ends up defeating the teenager with amazing skill. It is revealed by Coach Sumire that Ryoma just returned back to Japan after winning the American Junior Tournament four years in a row. So, good that he entered the tournament to not try for the under-12 but for the 16 and under.

Immediately, news of Ryoma starts making its way at Seishun Academy that the older tennis players want to check out and see for themselves of how good Ryoma is, including the elite at Seishun High School.

Meanwhile, one high schooler named Arai is not so thrilled that Ryoma has arrived and tells him that there’s no room for seventh graders and how they are there to pick up the balls, while the older students are there to play.

Arai, so angered at Ryoma, wants to humiliate him by challenging him to a match but hiding Ryoma’s tennis rackets and giving him an old, badly strung wooden tennis racket.

But Ryoma agrees to the competition, even using a bad racket.  Needless to say, Ryoma shows everyone why he is a phenomenal tennis player.

Meanwhile, team captain Tezuka is working on the Inter-Squad Ranking Match to decide who will be the starters and who will compete in the upcoming tournament. And while its customary that only the older students are put into competition, will he allow a 7th grader to compete?

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