NORFOLK, Va. — Sofia Johnson’s first time in the U.S was when she came to start college at ODU.
“I just saw the things that Dom would show me on Facetime and stuff, but he wouldn’t show me the whole campus, just the tennis stuff,” she recalled.
Johnson was getting recruited for tennis during COVID and she couldn’t take visits to schools, but ODU head Coach Dominic Manilla’s facetime calls more than sufficed.
“Out of the other schools I spoke to he really made it known that he wanted me to be there and not just have another person on the team. I could tell he really wanted me to develop as a player.”
It takes a lot of guts to embark on a new journey in a new country all by yourself without having ever visited the school or the country you will attend, but Johnson is mature well beyond her years.
“The year I came I was the youngest by at least three years. I was like a baby on the team basically and it was really nice having older teammates to help me out.”
As the former No. 1 ranked 16-year-old in the U.K., turns out she didn’t need much help. This season Johnson led ODU to the NCAA regional final after beating 19th ranked South Carolina. Johnson ripped off five straight games in the decisive set to luck up the win.
“Honestly that was my craziest college and tennis match ever. I’ve never had to clinch like that when it’s 3-all. It was a really different experience.”
She was also named the Sun Belt Player of the Year garnering All American honors to become just the third women’s singles All American in program history. With one year left with the Monarchs, she’s showing no signs of slowing down.
“I just want to go pro because I want all of this hard work and work in the pro circuit not just in college and junior tennis. I really want to keep working towards that.”