Your shot must follow your feet.

Footwork is often the root cause of unwanted shots. If you don’t get your feet in the right place, any racket skills will count for little and you can find your straight drives bouncing off the side wall first and various other shots behaving badly. Perhaps more importantly, if you end up with your feet in a less than perfect place – which will happen frequently – work with this and don’t try and do something silly like smashing the ball.

Trying to get the feet in position

People will often try to go for shots that their feet simply haven’t put them in a position to play and this usually leads to mis-hits or unintentional shots. It is perhaps most common in the back corners of the court, where players are unable to get around the ball, and therefore get their weight behind the ball, which often means the shot is lacking both power and control. The ball often ends up in the middle via the side wall through being under-hit.

Whenever you go for the shot, first make sure you sort your feet out. You are always aiming to get as much of your body weight as you can into your shot, which might mean moving quickly to get your body behind the ball, preferably with your feet pointing straight towards the side wall so that you can get all of your bodyweight behind the ball.

When it isn’t possible to get around the ball or have your feet pointing straight towards the side wall with the body in a side-on position, you may need to try leading with your back leg or use a small jump or hop to generate momentum.

When you try your best but you don’t succeed…

Sometimes you just can’t get your feet into the position you desire no matter what you do and in these situations it is important to make sure you accept the position you are in and be realistic about your options. Don’t try to go for a normal shot if you are in a difficult position, instead try to play a shot that will help you get out of this position. The most common shots to play in such a position are the boast or lob, with the lob being the preferred option. The lob gives you a better chance of re-taking the T-Position, as well as giving you a great deal of time to sort yourself out. It also gives you the opportunity to trade places with your opponent and get them behind you, whereas the boast will always leave an opponent in front of you, which might be undesirable against some players.

Always listen to your feet. If you’re in a difficult position, play a defensive shot that reflects that and try to use this to get into a better position from which you can start to build attacks. Don’t try and hammer the ball!