In tennis you can have perfect strokes but it you cannot get to the ball that technique is useless. Efficient movement patterns are becoming more an more important as the game continues to speed up and I wrote about why movement is paramount way back in 2014.
Here is a video I put together explaining the lateral (sideways) footwork patterns for a two handed backhand.
I realize that there are variations and there must be. Each ball that comes to your side of the court and where you are positioned to receive it at that moment are unique. Sometimes you have more time and will make small adjustment steps, sometimes you are pressured on time and simply have to do something athletic to get the ball back. These are the basics and when basic concepts are understood and practiced it aids players in moving better.
In teaching footwork I find that that best way is to really let the human body figure it out. After all we are pre-programmed to move. No one teaches a baby with slow motion footage and words how to roll, walk, and run. If you put a child into a game of tag they immediately find angles to push off the ground and accelerate, create angles to decelerate and stop, and then reaccelerate to avoid getting tagged. And the more they are in that tag environment the better they become at it. The same thing happens on a tennis court, once a student understands the stroke techniques/concepts the best thing to do is get out there and move while hitting the ball.
