Stand up and walk across the room. Now look down at your knees and feet. They point forward, right? That’s how the human body evolved for walking. Alas, this doesn’t work for table tennis. If you stand with your knees and feet pointing forward, you’ll struggle to rotate the body properly on both forehand and backhand shots. This is especially true on forehand shots, where the body rotates more to the side. (It’s also true on backhand loops, especially at higher levels.)

Instead, point both the feet and knees slightly out to the side. This gives a much more natural swing. Not doing this is one of the biggest problems for new players – fortunately, most coaches (not all) correct it quickly.

But the forehand isn’t a static shot, and neither are your feet and knees. The knees especially rotate with your forehand shots. Watch how top players do this. The best way of looking at it is that the whole body needs to move together. But to do so, you need to make sure the feet and knees start out properly. And the rest will likely come naturally.