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 involved in Sofia’s lives, so she always lived at home.
In our interview, Sofia was very pointed when talking about her parents. She is so thankful for their sacrifices while she was growing up to become a tennis pro. She knows she never would have become a pro without their love and dedication.
When I say Sofia was good as a juniors player, I mean GOOD good. Even as young as ten, Sofia lost to Sonya Kenin (Sonya is one year older and is currently ranked in the top 25 in the world), but still competed with her. She showed signs of greatness early and often.
By the time Sofia entered high school, she was already a star tennis player. In 2014, Sewing became THE FIRST PLAYER EVER to win back-to-back Eddie Herr titles in 14s and 16s in consecutive years. For those that don’t know, Eddie Herr is one of the top four most prestigious tennis tournaments for juniors in the US - it’s like a juniors major.
Interestingly, in 2014, Sofia won the singles and doubles titles at Eddie Herr. Pickleball fans definitely know her doubles partner, Dominique (Domi) Schaefer. She even defeated Schaefer in the singles final to grab the crown. Domi and Sofia have been very good friends since the age of 13 - more on this when we get to Sofia playing pickleball.
By high school, playing in college wasn’t really a priority for Sofia - she had her eyes set on pro tennis all the way. She played ITFs and reached the highest ranking of 9 in the world in ITF Juniors, in 2017. Even though she wasn’t looking to get recruited to play in college, she was ranked as high as the second overall recruit in the USA in her class, by tennisrecruiting.net.
Sofia’s best memory from juniors tennis came at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships - Girls. She was seeded 14th in the prestigious international tournament, and made it all the way to the quarterfinals, beating some tough competition. With her quarterfinals run, Sofia was invited to the Wimbledon ball, and got to meet and take a picture with her idol, Roger Federer.
Pro Tennis Career
Sofia has been to 37 countries thanks to her tennis career (both pro and juniors). She reached as high as 125 ranking in the world in doubles and 455 in singles in the world in the WTA.
Sofia won four ITF 15,000 events between 2019 and 2022. Her wins came in Mexico (x2), Ecuador, and Peru. In addition to those four wins, she was also runner-up in four tournaments during those three years - all at the 15,000 level. Sofia’s father is Ecuadorian, and Sofia is bilingual in Spanish, so the South American trips were easy for her.
Sewing stopped playing singles in October 2023, with her knee issues worsening.
In doubles, Sofia played from 2016 all the way up until April 2024. She won 14 ITF events throughout her doubles career.
Sewing first won a pro ITF event at the age of 17, in November of 2017. She won a 15,000 event in Ecuador with her Mexican partner, Maria Portillo Ramirez. Shortly thereafter, her and Portillo Ramirez won their second title in Ecuador over Domi Schaefer and her partner Stephanie Nemtsova.
Sofia sustained a knee injury in late 2017, a few months after finishing her junior career, and needed to recover and rehab. The University of Miami recruited her to join the tennis program for the spring of 2018 semester, helping her recover, and hopefully play for the team later on in the semester. Sewing, however, took longer to recover than anticipated and was only able to play a couple of matches.
After the semester, Sofia decided to continue her pro tennis career and left the University of Miami. Her next pro tennis title came in September 2019 in a 15,000 event in Lubbock, TX, with Portillo Ramirez.
The last pro doubles event win for Sewing was also her biggest. She won Georgia’s Rome Open (W60) in October 2023 with Russian Anastasia Tikhonova.
All told, Sofia won the following doubles titles
- 15,000 level events - 4 wins
- 25,000 level events - 7 wins
- 40,000 level events - 2 wins
- 60,000 level events - 1 win
Sofia’s favorite pro tennis memory came in a December 2023 WTA Challenger in the Buenos Aires Open. Sewing played much of her doubles competitions with Colombian María Paulina Pérez García and this one was special.
The duo won three matches to make it all the way to the finals. They came up just short, losing 11-9 in the third set. Sofia remembers this tournament above the others because it was one of the best finishes for the two good friends.
Due to the debilitating knee issues, Sofia stopped playing professional tennis in April 2024, after an ITF 25,000 event in Boca Raton.
Pro Pickleball
Domi had been trying to get Sofia involved in pickleball for a while, but Sofia was still playing tennis and didn’t want to commit to both. When she was done playing tennis, Sofia decided to finally play pickleball.
She picked up a paddle for the first time in April 2024. Living in Boca Raton really helped her pickleball career take off. She was invited to play at the Delray Beach Tennis Center, where many top pros play.
That is where she met Tanner Tomassi. He saw something in Sofia, and asked her to play APP NYC with him the next month. Sofia credits Tanner with helping her learn the doubles game in pickleball, as it is so different from tennis.
Since that APP tournament in May, Sofia has played in nine pro tournaments. Her best doubles win of her career was beating Alex and Angie Walker in the PPA Bristol in August with Domi Schaefer.
Sofia has already made her pickleball career an international affair, as she played in the PWR India Masters in October, and the PWR Thu Duc HTV DJOY Open Warrior Cup in December. She won both events in singles, beating the best international women in singles - Emilia Schmidt, Pei Chuan Kao, Some Dalla Bonna, and Yu-Chieh Hsieh.
All of this led up to the APP Fort Lauderdale tournament this past week. Sofia beat Helen To, Amanda Hendry, Katerina Stewart, and Daria Walczak. To show how far her game has come in the nine months since starting pickleball, you only need to look at her performance against Megan Fudge.
Sewing showing off her athleticism and foot speed in the APP Fort Lauderdale Open. Video Credit: Alina Leontarakis
She lost 14-16, 11-15 in the finals against Fudge last week. In her first tournament in the APP NYC, she played Fudge in the first round and lost 7-15, 9-15.
Sofia still struggles with knee issues, but they are much more manageable playing pickleball. The 25-year-old is training pickleball every day and is pursuing pickleball full-time. She is training EVERY DAY and most days twice a day.
Her plan for 2025 is to play as many APP Tournaments as she can and also play in the PWR DUPR India League this spring. Sophia is so excited to play pickleball internationally. The thing she missed the most from her pro tennis days was the international travel. She had a ton of fun in the PWR events and is super excited to compete in their upcoming events.
Having covered pro pickleball for over two years, I definitely think Sofia has what it needs to make it as a star in the sport. She has all the tools necessary - athleticism, reach, power, and mental toughness. She is taking her training VERY seriously and has only been playing for nine months. After seeing her play this weekend in Fort Lauderdale, I made this X post:
Ok, I'm officially sold.
— Erik Tice (@azetice) January 19, 2025
Sofia Sewing is going to be the 2025 breakout woman in pickleball.
She is an elite mover, has super consistent ground strokes from both sides, and her lateral coverage at the kitchen is phenomenal.
I'm impressed.
Sofia Sewing - THE breakout pickleball player in 2025 - you heard it here first, folks!
