I won some open tournaments, but never professionally.
As an amateur I had beaten some people who turned pro.
I beat one in doubles who later went on to become the number one in the world in doubles for a time.
I started late with tennis at 13 having taken it up as exercise for asthma.
I had a neck broken by a drunk driver at 19 and a torn anterior cruciate ligament in my knee in an accident at a tennis club at 20.
Needless to say, I got hit hard on the physical side while young, so no pro career for me. I also had no family into tennis to train me nor a family with $10,000 a year to have me trained.
I've never stopped playing, it's a great game for life and the people are very nice for the most part.
So with my life experiences, I can watch players and conduct a study on bio-mechanics of their game and get more out of watching an athlete than most common fans could.
Sharapova has a great game, good bio-mechanics and flows in her game. She was born with size which can give her a long career and natural ability to perform with minimum injury.
She also has seemed to pick up how to play without overdoing it with her body. The Williams sisters FAIL in this area of tennis.
All the ladies are fun to watch though.
Despite that, the women compared to the men are usually boring to watch, but these ladies make it watchable.