I recently coached a student that told me that, in the middle of the first set she started hitting all her forehands long. She said "I just remembered what you said 'hit throught the ball.'" I told her that there is a difference between hitting through the ball and hitting it harder. She looked at me puzzled.
What I explained was this:
When I say to hit through the ball I mean I want a nice clean stroke in which you bring your racket back, hit the ball and wrap your racket around your body. As shown here in this picture of my doubles partner Tanja hitting a high forehand.
She isn't hitting the ball hard at all. She is using a good balance of control and power given the situation and her skill level.
Here is a picture of professional Kim Clijsters hitting the same shot but HARDER.
Notice how she is using her whole body to propel herself into the shot. Both her and Tanja use eastern grip forehands. But there is one big difference. Tanja is not as strong as Kim Clijsters.
What I mean is that the harder you hit the ball, the more sincronicity you need from your body. In particular, your WRIST. The faster you swing your racket, the harder it is to control the racket. This is why many professional tennis players have one forearm bigger than the other.
So if you are hitting through the ball and you are consistently hitting the ball out of bounds, try not hitting as hard. And if you want to a harder ball regularly, hit the gym and strengthen those wrists.
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