How you wait at the T is very important. Many players waste extreme amounts of energy just waiting for the opponent to hit the ball, and make it unnecessarily tough on themselves to hit the next ball.
Be relaxed as you wait on the T. Stand about a foot behind the short line, standing relatively straight with feet shoulder-width apart and your weight evenly distributed between the back and front of your foot. Consciously relax your muscles. Your racquet arm will be straight down with your racquet up and straight forward – a 90 degree angle between your racquet and racquet arm.
What you are trying to achieve is a relaxed “neutral” position, ready to go to either the forehand or backhand.
Keep your eye on the ball and watch it as it goes to your opponent’s racquet. Your body will likely turn, and that is ok. Stay as neutral as possible while watching the ball. When the ball makes contact with your opponent’s racquet you will spring into action with a double-step (a topic for a future post). The important thing for now is to understand that you stay relaxed until the ball strikes your opponent’s racquet and this is how you avoid wasting energy and being taken the wrong way.
