It's always surprising to go back and see the early manga art style! Everyone gets so much prettier later. I don't remember who my favourite character was at this point, but I can say that from the moment Kaidoh asked Inui if he was picking a fight, I was shipping them. :)

I think Ryoma used his right hand against Momo because using his left wouldn't be any sort of challenge. And Ryoma doesn't seem all that eager to stand out. But he's a very difficult character to figure out. He's the main character, but we don't get a strong POV from him, or from anyone else, except for Sakuno. (One of the many oddities of tenipuri.) So we have no real clues to his thoughts and feelings.

Absolutely I think Tezuka making everyone run laps is to punish them for his own rule-breaking in letting Ryoma play in the ranking matches. ("Rule" here meaning "strong tradition".) Tezuka is unsettled and he's trying to restore order.

In a lot of ways, Prince of Tennis is less about Ryoma himself and more about Ryoma's effect on everyone else. We don't so much see the other characters through his eyes, as we would expect, but we see him through their eyes. It's all about their reactions to him.

And Tezuka's reaction is wonderful. :)

Also, I would like to point out that Hayashi doesn't know what a Twist Serve is but Horio does. ♥