Thanks, I think I may have been trying to reach the ball a bit forward. Will try to go more by the feel next time.

Hi Mik,

Yes, it’s possible to hit too much in front. That’s when you’re reaching forward and leaning towards the ball.

In that case you’re losing balance and your body is fighting to keep you balanced so you’re losing power.

Find ideal contact point through experimentation, see where it feels best…

Is it even possible to hit too front?

After reading this discussion of the “45 degree angle” and thinking about some of the issues involved I wanted to respond with a brief comment. The notion of the arm being at 45 degrees /- at contact itself is a simplification, or perhaps a reduction, of the principle. The arm angle is considered relative to the body, which is positioned in relation to the incoming ball. But that ideal 45 degree arm angle is also relative to another 45 degree angle, that of the hips, at contact. So really one is talking about 90 degrees, and that is a concept that could take us many places. And when you start aligning stroke technique with those positions, the process is no longer as simple and innocent as the 45 degree angle concept seems.
On the other hand, players like me, who grew up hitting a baseball with a bat at a contact point even with a point between our spine and front hip and whose initial (old fashioned) forehand instruction had us making contact at a similar spot, often need help to visualize where the modern forehand (and one hand backhand), with coil and lag, should meet the ball. That notion provides as good a means as any of helping us do that, perhaps superior to the idea of identifying some point in space X centimeters in front of the front toe, since the concept of arm angle is dynamically related to the body.
But then we all have to become able to time it up with the ball that is coming in, each one perhaps with different air pressure and felt characteristics at a different trajectory and different speed with different spin, and each rebounding from the court a different way. I think that is why the word “ideal” is used when we talk about contact.

Yes, Parmet, there’s more of a zone through which we swing but the term “contact point” is used more often.

You can see how I created a zone for one of my players to work on his contact point on the forehand and I also like to use the concept of sweeping through the contact area which makes the strokes more smooth.