As Devo used to sing–“Whip it, whip it good” Your racquet arm is either a whip or a board. Tensing your forearm and squeezing tight on the racquet handle makes your arm a board. Relaxing your arm and thinking spaghetti makes your arm a whip. A whip can break the sound barrier! A board can break your back!
The forehand is actually a chain of events that starts at the bottom and works up.
First your lower body has to do the work.
Second your upper body has to rotate into the shot.
Third your arm moves and last your wrist and forearm flexes to create the “whip” motion.
The faster the racquet head is moving, the harder you hit the ball. Therefore the further away from your body the ball is, the harder you hit the ball.
But you cannot win by just hitting the ball hard.
To place it you must use your lower body so you can control how hard you hit it and where you hit it.
Try this drill. Give yourself a setup and begin your forehand but do not move a muscle from your shoulder to your fingertips until your body has moved half way through the swing. If done correctly it will surprise you how hard you can hit the ball with so little effort!
So………
As the old saying goes, “Keep your eye on the ball and bend your knees, that will $100 please!”