In November 2003, the production of a Japanese television drama series was announced.[74] It was broadcast by Japanese network TV Asahi in nine episodes between January 15, 2004, and March 11, 2004.[75][76] It was directed by Hidetomo Matsuda, Shunji Muguruma and Yoshinori Kobayashi, produced by Motohiro Matsumoto and Shizuo Sekiguchi, and the screenwriters were Akiyo Takikawa, Naoya Takayama and Hiroko Kanasugi.[75] Shuzo Matsuoka, a former Japanese professional tennis player,[4] served the supervisor of the tennis scenes.[75]