I think the key is not to look at the ball, but to interpret from their swing where you should make a move to.

If I put an opponent in the back I can tell more than half the time whether they are hitting hard and straight, drop, or boast. Any other shot you can still get to if you guess wrong.

You should also be ready to pounce when they contact the ball, split step or however you want to think about it.

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The teaching is "no preferred foot" these days, however I would try to do the front foot back foot concept if possible, and if your footwork is not in position it will be necessary to compensate with the rotation of hips/shoulders to get the correct angle of contact most times.  Take a look at the video again. Balance is very important no matter what foot is forward.  If you don't get your shoulders around parallel to the side wall pounds to peanuts you will hit cross court every time.

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Having scanned throught a few of the videos I think that when I am on the T I am facing the direction I expect the ball to go.  Generally i am twisting my body round to face when I have hit the ball and where my opponent is.  This is leading to me being slow to intercept and volley crosscourts.  I did notive that on the backhand volley interception video the player seemed to be hitting the backhands off their left foot, which I would normally have thought of as not being the "ideal" technique, am I mistaken?

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Arthur - we take a lot of trouble to do the videos for our members.  Browse through them and in slo-mo you will get a better idea of the movement.  The Relevant Content tab has heaps of stuff too.

Make some notes as you see little helpful hints and build up a heap of useful info to easy reference.

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On a similar vein what is the best way to stand on the T, the other day an opponent commented that I have very strange movement when trying to return crosscourts from fore to backhand.  I keep twisting my body and letting them get behind me, it may be that my position at the T is wrong, facing one side too much (and standing too far back but we know that one) this really limits my ability to volley cross coutr shots straight.

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Ok so lets assume that returning to the T is appropriate for the shot in question.

So when on the T firstly stand with the feet shoulder width and be on your toes weight slightly forward as your opponent plays the ball.  As your opponent hits the ball you do a little split step and move off in the right direction. If your feet are already too far apart you cannot do this split step and so will find it dificult to get yourself moving.

Secondly as the ball approaches your opponent be aware of what factors will affect their shot.  Is it very tight, is there not much room to get the racket behind the ball, is the opponent stretching etc.  All of these things can give you clues to know what you are likeley to expect but then as the opponent prepares for and plays the shot watch their body position and shoulder position and watch the racket as it strikes the ball and follows through.  The ball itself is often too fast to watch so watch the racket and then that is when you move off the T.  After you have finished watching the racket and the ball has left the racket then you can wacth the ball as you will already be moving hopefully in the right direction!

Hope this helps.  You can practice this by playing weaker players and focusing on this or also by ghosting but always try and watch the racket.  You can also watch your opponents racket during the warm up to get accustomed to what their drive and cross court looks like.

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Thanks!!!

But is there a way to train this sort of "watching"?

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weelee - firstly the word "stoning" had me tricked, and I assume you refer to standing at the T?

Look under "relevant content" tab on the top left for more info on similar topics.

Sometimes players think all they have to do is hit and move to the T, and yes, that would be good, but it is a very loose term.  Why?  You should only move into that position if your shot, or your opponent's shot allows you to occupy that position.  The only way you know if your shot is effective (good) is to watch, not only the front wall where the ball hits, but watch the flight path of the ball all the way, until your opponent returns it, and this then gives you the opportunity to move into a more advantageous position on court to retrieve the return.  It is better to be away from the T (slightly forward, sideways, or back) than standing squarely in the middle of the court and not knowing what is actually going on. You must move to a safe place, be ready to run, and watch the ball at all times.

Give that a go and I am sure you will track the ball heaps better.

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