I think Echizen Ryoma should not have liked Sakura Ryugasaki. Although in this anime, Sakura Ryugasaki has a high sense of existence as a girl, but that is because there are very few female characters in it. Sakura Ryuzaki's fondness for Echizen Ryoma is very obvious, she always follows Echizen Ryoma and wants him to teach her to play tennis, even if she has no talent to consume Ryoma's time. She also took the initiative to serve as a tennis manager, often watching Ryoma play, and often making love bento for Ryoma. The little girl's enthusiasm is overflowing, but in contrast, Echizen Ryoma responds very little to Sakura Ryugasaki.
For Echizen Ryoma, tennis is still more attractive to him, and "The Prince of Tennis" is a sport and does not involve too many emotional lines, so Ryoma has always been single. Echizen Ryoma, on the other hand, has never dated Ryuzaki Sakura alone, and they mostly meet at school, even if there is any activity, they follow the group.
So let's talk about Echizen Ryoma teaching Ryuzaki Sakura to play, and I think it's hard to define him as liking Ryuzaki Sakura. Because in Seigaku, the coach of the tennis team is Sakura Ryugasaki's grandmother, and this Ryugasaki coach has a teaching grace for Echizen Ryoma. Echizen Ryoma seems to be an extraordinarily arrogant boy, but he actually respects his teacher. Therefore, it is also normal to bring a band of Ryuzaki Sakura with the teacher's request, all because of the reward for the teacher's kindness.
Let's look at Ryoma's age, he is only 12 years old, he is still a complete child, he has a little wayward temper, likes to drink a fixed drink, and has a little self-confidence in himself. It is obvious from his little short man who is almost equal to the girl, and it is not very good for Ryoma to portray the image of early love at this age, after all, this is a sports fan rather than a love fan, of course, everything should be based on the movement of hot blood. So I think Xu Feigang may not have wanted to give the protagonist a relationship at all, after all, Ryoma spent all his energy on tennis. And if Echizen Ryoma falls in love, it will not cost a lot of time in love, so that Ryoma will be difficult to portray the image of striving to pursue a higher realm of tennis, Xu Feigang should want to make Ryoma's image positioned more on the talented players who are focused on improving themselves. As for the emotional drama, it is all condiments, and it is enough to have a Ryugasaki Sakura to let the audience know that our little prince Echizen Ryoma is very popular with girls.
In general, it is difficult to see from the performance of the anime that Echizen Ryoma likes Ryuzaki Sakura, Ryuzaki Sakura looks more like a single love for Ryoma, and Ryoma is still the little prince we have no object to.