Sofia Sewing won a silver medal last week in women’s singles at the APP Fort Lauderdale Open, pushing Megan Fudge to the limit. She displayed picture perfect ground strokes from both sides, elite athleticism and lateral movement, and a tenacity to win. I had to get to know her.
Growing up and Juniors Tennis
Sofia grew up in Florida in the Doral area. At the age of eight, Sofia started playing tennis. Sofia’s father, Christian, loved tennis and had always hoped to have children that played tennis, so he entered Sofia into training early.
Prior to tennis, Sofia played a little bit of soccer and gymnastics and, self admittedly, said she was bad at both. However, Victoria, Sofia’s younger sister, played some tennis, but didn’t love it. She quickly took a liking to gymnastics and then volleyball. The Sewings are a very athletic family.
Speaking of which, let’s get this out of the way – her last name is pronounced “Sev-ing”.
Sofia was good right away in tennis. So much so that her parents took her out of school at the age of 10 and started homeschooling her. Many elite level juniors players go to academies where they are away from their parents, and do school and tennis full-time. Not Sofia. Karen, Sofia’s mom, and Christian both wanted to be…
