THE DRIVE

You will never become an expert player simply by waiting for your opponent to make errors. Frequently during a match he will return a ball which bounds high enough for you to make the point outright with a simple offensive shot. If you pass up these opportunities to attack, you are greatly increasing your own chances of making errors.
Attacking strokes should be hit from a position close to the table because your objective is to force the play as much as possible. By "forcing the play" we mean forcing your opponent to hit his stroke with a minimum time for preparation, and of course if you yourself stand close to the table and hit the ball as soon as possible he will be forced to do likewise. Consequently, in making an attacking stroke, your position should be about a foot from the table rather than several feet from it, as in making the forehand and back­hand chops.

THE FOREHAND DRIVE
To make the forehand drive, which is easier to learn and usually more reliable than the backhand drive, place your left foot about six inches in front of your right foot and turn your left shoulder toward the net (Figures 22 and 23). Bend the elbow a little and crouch slightly to bring your eye closer to the level of the ball. As your opponent's shot crosses the net, swing your racket back slightly and shift your weight onto the right (rear) foot. Then swing the racket forward and upward, with the upper part of the racket turned over at about a forty-five-degree angle to the table (the racket face is tilted in just the opposite manner as for the chop stroke). As you swing forward and upward, shift your weight onto the left foot in one smooth motion. This weight shift is utilized in many sports to acquire power. The boxer shifts his weight before he delivers the knockout punch, and the batter pivots before he hits a home-run drive. When you have completed your stroke, if you have made it properly, the rear foot usually leaves the floor completely and the entire weight comes to rest on the forward foot. Your body must be traveling forward as you contact the ball in order to get "zip" into the drive.

Follow through completely on the stroke, with your racket ending above your right ear (Figure 28). The entire operation is a sweeping motion, similar to that used in brushing back your hair when it falls into your eyes.
Always make a complete stroke with your forehand drive. You are striving to obtain enough overspin to make the ball cross the net and then dip down onto your opponent's side of the table.

 THE FOREHAND DRIVE
Figure 21. Start of a forehand drive. Note grip on racket and slight turning of the entire body. Figure 22. The body is sideways now and the backswing has begun in earnest. Eyes are on the approaching ball. Figure 23. The racket is coming forward to meet the ball at its highest bounce. Note the slight crouch of the body Figure 24. Position of the arm, extended well away from the body, shows that the stroke will not be a cramped one.

THE FOREHAND DRIVE— continued
Figure 25. Point of contact. The ball is hit in the center oj the racket with the face tilled slightly forward.Figure 26. Directly after contact, we see that the wrist is still firm and the racket is beginning its upward swing. Figure 27 The follow-through is very im­portant to the success of the stroke. As the racket goes up, the ball drops down.
Figure 28.Complete your follow-through. The body is leaning forward and the racket ends up high in the air.

ERRORS IN MAKING THE FOREHAND DRIVE
There is a greater possibility of error, in the beginning at least, in an attacking stroke than in a defensive one because the action involved is more positive—the vigorous swing forward, the transfer of body weight, etc. Some of the more common errors in executing a forehand drive are listed below.

1. Taking the ball too far in front of you. This causes loss of balance and consequently loss of power. A bad habit in the execu­tion of the backhand chop, this is even more undesirable in the forehand drive, because good balance is essential for successful weight control and weight shifting at the point of contact with the ball. Remedy this error by training yourself to wait for the ball. Try timing the stroke in three counts: count one, prepara­tion; count two, contact, with shift of body weight; count three,
   
   follow-through. To gain speed and power in your shot, emphasize the side­ways position of the stroke. If you assume an incorrect position with both feet facing toward the net, your racket must swing in a circle and can contact the ball at only one point. If you turn your body and feet sideways, your racket swings in a plane and may therefore contact the ball at any number of suitable points.

2. Taking the ball too close to your body, which results in a cramped swing. This error is usually the result of rushing forward to meet the ball at the exact spot where it will bounce rather than allowing for the length of your arm. Remember that the correct position for the body is not at the point where the ball bounces but at a point from one to two feet to the side of the ball, depend­ ing upon your reach. Better attention to fundamentals will correct this fault.
   
   
3. Using too much "body English" on the shot, that is, trying to use your body to hoist the ball over the net. The stroke, of course, should be with the forearm alone. Often this fault is merely an indication of trying too hard and it can be corrected easily if pointed out. Proper transfer of body weight is very important to obtain speed; but if this transfer is effected before the point of contact, the effort is obviously wasted. More important than the wasted effort involved, this premature weight shift throws the player off balance so much that correct weight shifting becomes impossible.
   
   
4. Not waiting for the ball to bounce high enough. This is an error of judgment which is easily corrected. A block shot is taken correctly on the rise, but a more successful forehand drive can obviously be made from a high-bounding return rather than from a low-bounding one. So, for the same reason that we do not wait to make our drive until the ball almost touches the table a second time, we do not attempt a drive until the ball has bounced as high as it is going to bounce. The higher the bounce, the higher the starting point of our drive. The higher the starting point of the drive, the less likelihood that the ball will not clear the net.
   
   
5. Not making firm enough contact with the ball, usually causing a weak return into the net. This can be very discouraging  to the beginner and may be caused by any of several factors. First, you may be making too timid a stroke and are probably not getting enough "rub" on the ball. Smear the ball across the rubber pips with a smart movement. Don't worry about hitting the ball off the table at this point. The extra amount of brushing will keep the ball on the table. Exaggerate your topspin stroke. Second, you may not be taking into consideration the amount of chop your opponent is using. That chop will cause your drive to be pulled down into the net unless you allow for it and either

1. hit the stroke a trifle harder to kill the spin, or
2. use a little more topspin, to offset the chop.

6. Swinging up before swinging forward. This robs the fore­hand drive of all speed, and forces the attacker to try to make his point by out steadying the defensive player, something which can­ not be done among players of equal ability because the defensive chopping stroke is less tiring than the topspin drive. It is the most serious error the beginner can make in a forehand topspin drive, and, as has been observed, often results from the player's making too timid a stroke.

In this case the player is so afraid of miscalculation and an accident with the net that he defeats his own purpose to make the point aggressively and becomes engaged in a long drawn-out volley with the defensive player which is finally ended when one of the players commits an error due to exhaustion. An offensive player must, of course, take some chances. A correct forehand stroke goes forward first and then up. Thus, for instance, the best way for the golf player to clear a trap is to hit straight through the ball and depend upon the natural lift in his stroke, not to consciously arch the ball high into the air.
Even in executing a drive with the minimum amount of topspin there is a natural lift of your arm which amounts to two or three inches. Practice swinging your racket through without a ball and see for yourself that it is lower at the beginning of the stroke than at the ending. This natural rise will supply a sufficient amount of topspin to control ordinary shots which rebound slightly higher than the net. For shots which are lower and heavily chopped, you must put a certain amount of conscious lift into your drive, but never so much that the entire forward speed of the shot is destroyed.

THE BACKHAND DRIVE
The tendency in table tennis today seems to be to depend upon the forehand drive to a great extent, and very rarely to employ the backhand drive in offensive playing. The arguments in favor of such a course run like this: It is necessary to have a good backhand as well as a forehand chop for de­fensive playing since you must take the ball wherever your opponent places it. However, in playing on the attack, it is not necessary to drive every ball; those which come to the backhand can be pushed or blocked while you wait for a forehand shot. Furthermore, with only one attacking shot to worry about, a player never is forced to choose between the forehand or backhand drive, never worries about his strong or weak point, never hesitates when the ball comes down the middle.

These arguments could make sense only because the majority of ranking stars neglect their backhand drives for forehand. But we recommend the cultivation of a good backhand drive as soon as possible after you have mastered a workable forehand. And our reply to the theorists is that, in theory, it would not be necessary to have a defense at all if you were able to keep the attack at all times. There are advantages to having a sound back­hand drive, just as there are advantages to having a sound defense. Some of these advantages are:

1. You can maintain proper balance and court position more easily when you are not forced to cover the entire table from one side.
   
   
2. In fighting for the offense, you can return a drive with a drive instead of a chop or a block shot when faced with a return toward your backhand corner, thus maintaining constant offensive tactics.
   
   
3. You are much more likely to succeed in defending your­ self against a block shot if you can drive from either side of your body instead of being forced to cover sharply angled shots with your forehand.
   
   
4. Because a backhand is hit from in front of your body, with no necessity for a preparatory backswing and consequent "squaring-off"   as   in  the  forehand,  you   can   seize  the   offense quickly or try for a sudden winning shot. Preparation to seize the offense by a forehand drive can be detected easily, but a back­ hand attempt is seldom obvious.
   
   
5. Unless you can drive, you are unable to return a serve directed to your backhand side. Inability to do this means that for half the game your opponent can immediately force you on the defensive by the simple expedient of serving a fast topspin to your backhand.

To make a backhand drive, reverse the directions for a forehand. This places your right foot slightly in advance of your left one. Keep your wrist firm and start your racket back low (about waist height) as in the forehand drive, tilted forward at approximately the same forty-five-degree angle (Fig­ure 32). As you swing back, your weight shifts to the rear foot; as you swing forward, it goes onto the forward foot. Your follow-through is high, up near your right ear (Figure 36).
The backhand drive is more difficult for the average player to learn than the forehand because the swing is across the body, not away from it. Moreover, you will find your muscles are more accustomed to the forehand movement than to the backhand. Practice will cure this.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BACKHAND AND FOREHAND DRIVES
Although, in the main, backhand drives are the reverse of the forehand, there are a few minor differences between them:
1. The grip may differ slightly. Some players—particularly women—move the thumb up a trifle toward the middle of the blade for extra power and support when playing backhand shots.
2. The swing back of the racket is shorter and the ball may be taken earlier in the backhand drive. This shorter swing back  does not permit all  of the  crushing power that the forehand develops, but it allows for a great deal more deception.
3. The correct position for the backhand drive is nearer to the ball than for the forehand drive. You cannot get the same freedom of swing here by standing well away from the shot as in the forehand because it is impossible to get your body out of the way when your shot must be made right across it. For the same reason, you should strive to get farther behind the ball rather than to the side of it because it is impossible in the backhand drive to gain the advantage that the sideways forehand position brings.

ERRORS IN MAKING THE BACKHAND DRIVE
Some of the common errors made in executing the backhand drive are listed below:
1. Getting the wrist too far in front of the racket. This causes sidespin and loss of control. It is better to curb this tend­ency when first learning a backhand drive. However, in all fair­ness, it must be noted that many players use this sidespin drive successfully, either to open up the court for a forehand shot or when they are slightly out of position on the backhand.
Because the backhand drive may be hit without facing sideways, and be­cause it is hit across the body, it is possible to make a successful sidespin shot. Note that in the backhand chop this shot could never be successful because the return is too soft and sidespin without speed would not be so deceptive. A good, solid blow from the backhand will give you better control of sidespin and your opponent less time to anticipate it.
2. Attempting to execute a backhand drive on a ball which is out of reach. As pointed out previously, the backhand drive is made closer to the body than the forehand. By forgetting this, many players commit the serious mistake of attempting to hit a backhand drive when the ball is too far from them, and thereby muff the shot or, at best, deliver a return with little speed. The remedy is, of course, either to get closer to the ball, that is, to get into a better position or, when unable to do so, not to attempt the drive but to use a chop or push stroke instead.
It is impossible to gain power when your reach is overextended. It is satisfactory to terminate your drive with your racket extended as far as you can reach, but to begin the stroke from that position robs your drive of all its force. Obviously, nothing but a block return or a simple poke shot can be made in this manner.

THE BACKHAND DRIVE
Figure 29.Beginning of the backhand drive. The wrist is locked in a firm posi­tion in  reparation for the shot. Figure 30. Eyes are on the moving ball as the backswing begins. Note sideways position of the body. Figure 31.The sideways position of the body is more pronounced as the racket starts forward to meet the ball. Figure 32.Note that this stroke will be made closer to the body than the corre­sponding forehand drive.

THE BACKHAND DRIVE - continued
Figure 33.Just before the actual hitting of the ball: sideways position, firm wrist action, plenty of room to swing. Figure 34.Point of contact. The racket face will travel over the ball. Note the upright position of the body. Figure 35.The stroke is finished but the eyes still watch the ball and the racket begins its upward swing. Figure 36.A complete follow-through, the racket having passed over the ball to give it plenty of topspin.

 

THE WRISTED BACKHAND
After mastering the orthodox backhand drive, using a firm wrist motion, experiment with the "wristed backhand" (a special case of the backhand flick) in order to obtain more power. As you swing back preparatory to making a wristed backhand, let the weight of your racket bend your wrist back also. As you go forward, let your wrist move along a little faster than the rest of your arm. At the start of the stroke your wrist is behind the racket, and in the follow-through, ahead. An exaggerated use of the wrist will increase your topspin and pace.
The wrist should not be ahead of or behind your racket at the moment of contact. When it is, the error illustrates the danger in the use of this shot. Properly controlled, extra topspin will increase the accuracy of your shot, but it requires good timing and practice.
A wristed backhand, played with confidence and complete follow-through, is the nearest thing to a jerky swing that you ever want to at­tempt in table tennis. Good results may be obtained, provided your wrist is not used independently of your forearm, by a sudden whipping motion to complete the follow-through and give added zip. The backhand flick, of which the wristed backhand is a special type, will be discussed in detail later.

POINTERS ON ATTACK
The purpose of attack is to seize the initiative and through a combina­tion of speed and placement outmaneuver your opponent so hopelessly that he makes an initial error or gives you a return high enough for you to force a subsequent error. We have discussed methods of doing this.
But now the question arises as to whether it is better to favor forehand or backhand drives in the initial stage of building up your attack. The backhand is a more deceptive shot. As pointed out, it can be made with a shorter swingback, usually has a wide angle, and is played from in front of your body, thus calling for less preparation. On the other hand, the forehand drive is a much steadier shot, a much freer and more natural shot, and usually a more powerful shot. The problem should resolve itself into one of individual preference. And let us caution you that this question of individual preference may change almost from day to day and from opponent to oppo­nent. You will find days when your forehand will be better than your back­hand, and you will find opponents who handle one more easily than the other.  Experiment  and  be  willing  to  change. 
This  demonstrates  another reason for the development of a two-sided attacking game: if you had only one attacking weapon you would not be able to change.

Whichever side you are using for your build-up drives, you will probably want to favor your forehand side for the final, crushing blow. Most people cannot hit very hard on the backhand since the basic principle involved in making a hard drive is getting right over the top of the ball and hammering it  straight  down.  The   sideways  position   of  your  forehand   drive—the  fact that your body is not in the way—the fact that it is a surer shot—all these things lead us to recommend hitting the high, return with a forehand. Whether the return comes to your forehand or backhand side in this case is a matter of secondary importance, because if it is high enough you have ample time to run into proper forehand position.

To summarize our discussion of offense: Topspin strokes are effective point-getters because their speed will drive your opponent out of position and tend to force him into errors. The most important thing to remember in making a topspin drive is to shift your weight from the rear foot to the forward foot at the moment of contact. This is the only way to execute a fast drive. Also remember to follow through to the limit, since only that long follow-through will assure getting the "drop" on the ball that makes it dip down safely on your opponent's side of the table.