Footwork: First Step When Receiving a Serve?

tommyzai wrote: *Based on a right-handed player. Is there a general rule about stance and stepping when receiving a serve? I am confused after reading and hearing conflicting advice. What should our feet do when receiving: Right short Right long Center short Center long Left short Left long etc. Does it matter if it's top, chop, side, etc?

Your stance depends on the degree of agressiveness in your play. ie Japanese Pen forhand-only attacker to chopper. It also varies with player height.

Nice thread!

I dug up an older discussion on the topic:
http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=16374&KW=footwork

Still haven't found a good reference on this, but some random thoughts:

1) pros + strong players I've seen stay low, lean forward, gazing just over the net - see Boll for this.  Helps to read the spin and keeps the center of gravity low for more balance as you explosively get to where you need to on the service return.

2) ready position is especially important here because you don't have any cues as to where the ball is going to end up.  So make sure to keep your weight on the balls of the feet, knees bent, leaning forward, center of gravity below the pelvis.  I think I've seen the recommended knee angle as dramatic as 90 degrees (see samsonov TT 2000 book for good notes on this)  How far to spread your legs is a function of strength, how good your footwork is will determine how deep into the backhand corner you stand.  I have to stand closer to the center line, on the backhand side not strong enough to tempt fate on the forehand side, though it complicates receiving on the backhand side. 

3) Distance from the table important here: a common tip is to stand back further than you'd expect - 2 steps.  With good footwork you can get in quickly to return the short serves, being back gives you more time to hustle to the forehand for a long spinny ball on that side.

4) as a continuation - Wish I knew whom to attribute this to.  How to most efficiently close this distance between you and the ball with long balls vs short?  One thing I read (and this seems to be confirmed watching pros receive) is that you should pay close attention to ready position + center of gravity, stay low and watch the ball as mentioned above.  As the serve is made, hop slightly to unweight the balls of your feet!.  If the serve is short, the unweighting makes it easier to make that that first step with your left foot to get close enough to the table - if long, to make the step sideways in case its forehand.  If short, follow the initial step with the planting of the foot under the table to receive (two steps total in short receive footwork on service).

5) another thought on ready position for service - where is the arm + paddle?  Look at Boll for example, when he receives he's already using forehand grip with the arm open, then switches around to backhand grip if necessary.  This might not be the best way to start - another approach is to keep the grip + position neutral, elbow away from the body to make it equally easy to move to forehand and backhand position.

6) when receiving short, as a rightly your right leg goes under the table.  Plant it solidly before beginning the stroke - improves consistency.

7) quality of short returns improves IMMENSELY if you can get in close and get in early.  Reading spin is a part of this, you don't want to have to lunge to make a push or a flip on a ball with side / cork spin.  So where the ball is going to start heading after it lands on your side determines where the right foot is planted in step 6)

8) there are subtleties to flipping and pushing, beyond just getting into position.  Feel like GenomicsKnight had something good to say about this - forehand flips are easier coming from the outside of the ball?  One thing I've heard about flipping - start high, go low with open blade, flip over. 

9) over the table looping with the backhand (chiquita spin) - love this stroke - use lots of wrist, point the elbow up, and rotate the whole forearm to generate the most snap (see killerspin techniques DVD for more on this).  Footwork is crucial here because you don't want to be moving your upper arm / forearm while performing this stroke - it has to be set up before the twisting + wrist motion is executed if you want to do it consistently.

All this is definitely to be taken with a grain of salt - its filtered through my memory and certainly lots of people have different techniques.  Just some ideas + fuel for discussion.  8 is just a placeholder till someone better has something concrete to say about it.

GREAT stuff Chronos!
Question?
6) when receiving short, as a rightly your right leg goes under the table.  Plant it solidly before beginning the stroke - improves consistency.
Would you recommend coming in with right leg even if the ball is short to the BH side? This is an area I get confused about.

I always make the mistake of taking short serve too early. I have a habit of killing forehand underspin returns early.

So when it comes to receive a underspin backhand serve, I always hit the ball on the rise and the ball either goes out or hit the net.

Always wait for the serve to reach optimum height or when it drops slightly. That way you will have enough time to read the spin and decide how to take it. Footstep won't be as important too.

I think that it doesn't matter which foot you use. As long as you can reach the ball and return it, it's ok. However, it is important that you allow yourself to return to a ready position for the next ball.

I always have a problem flipping a ball too hard only to unbalance myself. When the ball flies back, I can't do anything but watch.

So in short, I would say any footstep that allow you to come back to a ready position to defend/attack the next ball. So depending on how you setup your serve return you should place your leg appropriately.

Left in front at the FH corner and right foot maybe 30 cm behind the left foot in line of the middle lineAnd the blade head should just ouch the edge barely

I always use right leg on short sevices.
Is it 'correct'? Not sure...but the most important thing imo is to get close to the ball for optimum control. Always using the same leg prevents (in my case) confusion in those split seconds. I always try to keep things as simple and economic as possible while playing.

always step in with the strong leg. you get closer to the ball. if you step in with the weak side, imo, your force yourself to reach. think about any backhand shots, for the more consistancy, the strong leg goes in front. and for forehand above the table strong leg in front gives you more stability, since your not really using your legs for these shots. this is just my opinion. oh.. and when the server is throwing up the ball, shift your weight, about 80% to your weak side foot, then when returning, shift it all back to the strong side by stepping under the table to about 70:30. but make sure youre reading short. so if it bounces close to the net on your opponents side, it should be short, before the halfway point on their side of the table, it should be long. this is just my 2 cents though.

Is footwork when receiving a serve basically the same with all styles of play?
For example, shakehand versus penholder?

I appreciate the advice Bandit!! I will certainly think about it and see what I can apply to my game. No stoppin' me now.

BAND!T wrote: if it bounces close to the net on your opponents side, it should be short, before the halfway point on their side of the table, it should be long. this is just my 2 cents though.

Hmm.. that is not always correct.. if it bounces before the halfway point on the other side of the table and clear just over the net, it can do multiple bounce on your side of the table..
otherwise i agree with the Bandit said.. great tips bandit..

I was stepping in with my right food (I'm right handed player) to receive all short serves because it was simple and lent itself to proper flipping technique; however, just when I decided to make this my way of stepping, using the left foot began to feel more comfortable. AHHHHHHHHRRR!

WRONG you need to move your left foot FIRST to adjust your position so you can move your right foot in for your next shot.  If you move your right foot first you end up trailing your left leg! Remember to stay low also.

liXiao wrote: I just watched video of Ma Lin and Wang Liqin, and they both move right foot first~

I see what you mean by the small step, but when I look at Kaii Yoshida, he barely moves his foot at all but then lunges with the right~

barely moveing at all is still an adjustment. His left foot is not stationary