Ready position for receiving serve

allencorn said:

To Deep Space,

Thanks. I wondered about serving "tells" assessed from the very beginning, and I am sure paying attention to the pre-serve stance and set-up reveals some valuable clues. I also wonder if moving during the serve actually helps with perception. The receiver often seems to be on the move, not only from the bent over crouch, but also stepping into the table a bit, or drifting towards the center from initially being way to one side. I recall hearing that baseball outfielders have an easier time tracking fly balls accurately if they are moving rather than standing still. I wonder if the same is true for judging the serve in table tennis.

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TTFrenzy said:

Its easier to synchronize your body and adapt to the incoming ball if u are moving yes. But dont try to "mimick" the pros by getting into the table early they do that because they expect a short serve most of the times but they have also practiced "jumping" back a bit if the serve is long. zhang jike and yan an are characteristic examples of that , they step in for a BH flick and if the serve is long/fast on their deep BH they are so good with their bH and explosive/balanced they they can still reach the ball with a quality shot

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