Points to look for:
- The hips, waist and shoulders are now in position.
- The player has moved his weight from his left leg onto both legs.
- The right leg is slightly behind the left leg, in standard ready position. The legs should be a little further apart for optimum balance and ease of movement.
- The playing arm and bat should be about six inches to the right of the player to be in optimal ready position. Currently the player has recovered in a position that is favoring the backhand side a little.
- The player is now watching how the opponent is handling his serve.
- Note that the player is standing well towards the backhand side of the table - this is because the sidespin put on the ball will make it difficult for the opponent to put the ball wide to the player's right, since the ball will tend to bounce off the opponent's racket towards the player's left. So the player is actually standing in a fairly central position to cover the possible angles available to his opponent.
Side View - Forehand Pendulum Topspin/Sidespin Serve
Return to How to Play the Basic Strokes of Table Tennis/ Ping-Pong
