that's not necessarily true. It's very easy to sail the ball way long with a western grip as well. Remember, the more western your grip, the further ahead your contact point needs to be. This requires *extremely* early preparation, and more importantly incredible racket head speed to get the ball through the strike zone quickly enough. This is why they call the western grip the "all or nothing" stroke. Meaning, you can't swing slowly or tentatively with it at all. You literally have to swing "all or nothing." It's just not a stroke where you can guide or block the ball back like you can with an eastern grip forehand if you're in trouble.
If you hit the ball late with a western grip forehand, you can get some balls that hit the back fence before they bounce in the court, let alone within the sidelines.
The reward though for using a western grip is that IF you do have the prerequisite timing, racket head speed, and are not tentative; you can get both incredible control and power.
Look at all the good pros who use or have used a western grip, guys like Berasategui, Bruguera, Moya, Ferrero, basically all the Spanish guys. These guys have tremendous forehands that combine both control and power, but the common ingredient is that they do NOT hit the ball late. That's because they have incredible racket head speed, are not afraid to swing away, have the stamina to do so all day, and THIS is why they can hit with power...yet with margin.
Not just because the western grip makes that feat easier to accomplish. I truly believe that for the vast majority of recreational players, the semi-western or eastern grip is the better choice, as they do not require you to take the ball as early to keep the ball in the court. With a western grip, it's called the "all or nothing" grip by experts, because if you don't swing all out, you lose BOTH control and power. In contrast, with an eastern grip if you don't swing all out, you get more control...it's a more linear concept that's easier for recreational players to find the happy medium and easier for them to understand and develop.
The western grip is best left to advanced players and pros, in my opinion, for the same reason that the one-handed backhand is. The one-handed backhand at the recreational level is usually a poor shot for the same reasons...requires you to get the ball through the strike zone quicker, requires you to contact the ball further out in front, an all or nothing stroke that works from an inherently less stable platform in that you cannot be tentative or block the ball back the way you can with a two-hander (or in the case of the eastern grip forehand, this grip is FAR more stable in tight situations and for improvising under duress).
With that said, the reason the one-hander is generally not a liability at the pro level while it is at the recreational level is the same reason why most recreational players would be better off with a simpler eastern or semi-western grip forehand. That is, the pros have insane timing, racket preparation, racket head speed, and most importantly are not tentative on their swings. If you try to push a western grip forehand or a one-handed backhand, you're shot will land like tulip just BEGGING to be creamed...OR if you swing hard but don't have the right timing and contact the ball late, you're ball will sail long like it never has before. ON the other hand, if you do possess great timing, racket head speed, early preparation, and are not tentative...you will be rewarded with a consistent yet powerful western forehand or a blistering yet controlled one-handed backhand.
BTW, back to the original question of this thread since I kind of went off on a tangent...if your balls are tending to sail long and you use a more classical forehand as you do, here's a tip. Whereas with a western forehand, you need to swing harder and faster, with the eastern grip forehand try a more abbreviated follow through a la Lendl, i.e. don't follow through with the racket as high (less of a buggy whip type follow through that works so well with the more extreme grips). This will tend to make your swing path tighter and result in a more precise shot with the eastern grip forehand in my experience.
But in general, yes, it is true...the later you contact the ball, the more likely it is too sail. I.e. the earlier you contact the ball, the more cross-court it will go. Obviously, that's why you're supposed to contact the ball a little later to send it down the line. BUT, if you make contact TOO late, the ball will naturally carry a little TOO down the line, haha...like down the line and LONG...fore!
