TezakuKunimitsu

History

Three years prior to the start of the story, a young Tezuka showed up after the Junior Tennis Tournament and easily beat the tournament's runner-up, Genichiro Sanada. The tournament champion, Seiichi Yukimura, challenged Tezuka to a match, but the winner is not revealed.>

After entering Seishun Academy, 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, and his sealing of Hyaku Ren Jitoku no Kiwami, a technique which required the use of his left arm.Still, because of his skills, he was recognized by captain Y?dai Yamato, who convinced Tezuka, who had decided to leave the club because he did not want to be on the same team as people who hurt others with their racquets, to become Seigaku's "pillar of support". This, along with the promise he made with teammate Shuichiro Oishi, in which Tezuka promised to lead Seigaku to the Nationals, encouraged him to stay in the tennis club. Shusuke Fuji later requested a match against Tezuka, and though Tezuka was defeated, Fuji was displeased with the outcome after finding out about Tezuka's injury. The two promise to play each other once again after Tezuka's arm completely heals.

After a while, Tezuka became a team regular despite being a freshman. By his second year, he became the team's vice-captain, and defeated Hyotei Academy's captain in the Tokyo Prefectural Tournament. He was invited to the Junior Senbatsu tennis training camp, but because his arm problems returned, he declined the invitation without stating his reasons to the organization.

As the captain of the tennis team, Tezuka is serious about everything he does, and is very strict; one of his trademark phrases is "Don't let your guard down" ("Yudan sezu ni ik?"). Still, he is fair and sticks to his word; if the rules are broken, he punishes everyone, including the regulars. He would often make the entire team run laps when they break the rules - a trait which he inherited from Y?dai Yamato. Though his arm heals to some extent, the doctor still warns Tezuka against long matches and using his signature drop shot. Tezuka, however, considers his health secondary to the team's success, and continuous to risk re-injury in his matches to ensure his team's victory, even after returning from his medical treatment.

Throughout the original manga series, Tezuka is shown to never smile, though he is apparently immensely popular among the female fans of his school. It is only until his team becomes the National champions at the end of the series that he shows a smile, though he instantly reverts back when Fuji points out the fact. Still, the fact that Tezuka never smiles and always look so serious has been made into a running joke in the series. In the anime, his always serious attitude even prevents him from showing any reaction when drinking Sadaharu Inui's famous vegetable juices, resulting in others believing he is immune to the often dreaded concoctions. However, he quickly and sternly declines an offer to drink it later on.

He also picks up some character traits from his grandfather, and a running gag in the story is that Tezuka looks older than his actual age, often as his teammates' teacher, despite the fact that many characters also look older.

Techniques

Tezuka is an all-rounder tennis player, otherwise known as an all-court player, meaning he can use aspects of every tennis style depending on his needs.His dominant hand is his left hand, though in some parts of the story, he is shown to be capable of executing his techniques with his right hand as well.

One of the reasons Tezuka is acknowledged as a National-level tennis player is his infamous Zero-Shiki (Degree) Drop Shot, which is a return that forces the ball to roll backwards once it touches the ground a foot away from the opponent's side of the net, preventing the other player from returning it. He later develops a variation of this technique in the form of the Zero-Shiki Serve, which does not even give the opponent a chance to touch the ball. Another one of Tezuka's signature techniques is the Tezuka Zone (手塚ゾーン, Tezuka Z?n), a technique he uses to force nearly all returns to be "sucked" into his hit zone by pivoting around one foot without lifting it from the ground, and putting a specific rotation on the ball with every hit. He is also able to use this technique in the opposite way, which is later dubbed the Tezuka Phantom, so that the returned ball will go out instead of being sucked into his hit zone. However, in order to do this, Tezuka must create a spin six times that of the normal hit done for the Tezuka Zone. Also, consecutive uses of this technique may result in Tezuka re-injuring his arm or being permanently sidelined.

Tezuka has also opened two of the three doors of Muga no Ky?chi (無我の境地, Muga no Ky?chi> trans. "State of Self Actualization"),which is a technique that can only be achieved when a tennis player reached and surpasses his limits. Though Tezuka has not been seen using Muga no Ky?chi by itself, he has opened Hyaku Ren Jitoku no Kiwami (Pinnacle of Hard Work), implying that he has indeed learned Muga no Ky?chi.What makes Tezuka's Hyaku Ren possible is the Tezuka Zone, which allows him to focus Hyaku Ren into his left arm, preventing the immense loss of stamina caused by the Muga release, and giving him the ability to return balls with twice the strength, or spin, that they were hit with.The Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami (Pinnacle of Great Wisdom) is another one of Muga's doors. Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami focuses the power of Muga no Ky?chi in the mind, allowing Tezuka to be able to tell how many shots the current rally will take and who will win the point, giving him a form of foresight.