•  The angle of the feet/shoulders - try to get the body positioning parallel to the side wall, providing you are going for a straight shot down the wall. It is better not to stand glued to the spot waiting to hit the ball, but move into position as the ball rebounds off the front wall.
• The ball, for a straight shot, needs to be between you and the side wall when struck.
• If the striking postion is in front of the body, the swing will naturally take the ball cross court, unless you twist the wrist to alter the racket swing (not recommended).
• If you are to close to the ball it is likely your swing will get cramped up and also send the ball across court - try to swing parallel to the side wall.
• If you are unable to avoid hitting a cross court it must either be a very short angle into the opposite corner (difficult shot for beginners), or hit a cross court lob that will go so high the opponent in the centre of the court cannot volley it.
• Control the racket head as much as possible when swinging - and the harder you try to hit the ball, the easier it is to "waggle" your racket head about which in turn will alter the front wall target.
• Watch the server  "ball toss"  to get a better idea of the height, speed and angle of the serve.

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