One very important thing in table tennis is the body position when hitting the ball. There are various aspects you should be paying attention to which may vary if you play forehand or backhand (weight position, bat position, position at the table...) but for both strikes you need to keep your knees bent and low base position with your feet quite wide apart.
This combination will bring you in a low position and you will be ready to move quickly.
Therefore it is important you should keep a low position during the whole play if possible and this is a must when you play the stroke.
The only exception to this is when you play far away from the table, then you can bend your knees a bit less and the feet do not have to be that wide apart.
Let`s look at the position of some of the most famous players in the world when they hit the ball, note how wide apart are the feet:
In this post I will analyze Ovtachrov's backhand service. This is the most famous Ovtcharov's own invention service. The starting position and the way he hits the balls are unique. Dima plays this service most of the times short and rarely long.
Part A - Short
service
Let's have a look at the short service:
The aim of the service is to play a side/upper spin on the forehand side of the opponent, hoping he is going to respond with his forehand...why this? because, due to the type of the spin and to the ball's direction, if the opponent responds with the forehand it is really hard, even if not impossible, to keep the ball low and short. In most cases the ball comes back to Dima short/high or long/low, which allows him to start attacking (third ball attack).
Bearing this in mind you can understand why Dima executes this service from his right side (forehand side) and not, as any table tennis trainer would teach, from the right side being already in a good position to use his forehand. In fact, Dima needs to make a left-side step backwards while hitting the ball, but this causes absolutely no issues to him, when the ball is back he is already in a good position to play his forehand:
Dima's body position is very important, when he srikes the ball he is in the best position to give the ball the right spin and direction. If he would be facing the table, like any other player does when playing the backhand service, his service would not be that effective.
Boll - Forehand Loop
