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I can only think of two players who have the best footwork of all time in table tennis, Ryu Seung-min and Xu Xin.
I am a bit siding with Ryu Seung-min specially that footwork he showed in 2004 Olympics where he beat Wang Hao to win the gold medal in Men's Singles.
I think prime Ryu Seung-min is faster than Xu Xin in terms of feet. Showmanship-wise it will be Xu Xin.Â
Ryu Seung-min has a wider lateral feet movement which allows him to move fast. He's faster than Xu Xin during his prime.
A lot of table tennis players with penhold grips have fast feet like Xu Xin and Ryu Seung-min. Because of their grip, they naturally have weaker backhand compared to the players with shakehand grip but on the flip side they have more powerful forehand.
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They need to move fast so their backhand won't be taken advantage by the shakehand players and play more on the forehand side.Â
That's true. Because table tennis players with a shakehand grip have an equally strong backhand (as most top players do), they don't have to move to their backhand side to force a forehand rally.
This is not typically the case for penholders, so they need that fast footwork.
We should add Ma Lin to that conversation. Ma Lin has fast footwork to compensate for his relatively weaker backhand.
