Taylor Townsend is an on-air natural for Tennis Channel 

As she continues to work her way back toward the WTA Tour after stopping for the best of reasons, Taylor Townsend has also been hitting the Tennis Channel studios during this week’s tournament in Cincinatti.

So far, the transition has been as smooth as her serve-and-volley game, with the reviews overwhelmingly saying that the American is a natural. When Tennis Channel announced on Twitter that Townsend would be joining the broadcast lineup, the move was cheered, with compatriots on the tour chiming in, too.

Players, past and present, bring a special level of insight to their commentary and Townsend has been no exception. In the aftermath of Naomi Osaka’s first press conference, the former world No. 64 spoke about media duties being part of the job, but also noted that she couldn’t understand the amount of pressure Osaka faces as a former world No. 1 and sponsor’s dream.

In Townsend’s last appearance playing the Western & Southern Open, it was a completely different scenario from this year’s event. In 2020, the tournament was held in New York as part of the “bubble” experience for the US Open. She and partner Asia Muhammad fell in the second round of doubles, but rebounded quite nicely at the first major post-tour stoppage by advancing to the semifinals.

That was Townsend’s last tournament before announcing she was taking time off to become a mom for the first time. She’s been balancing parenthood and training, and now has broadcast work to juggle. Still, the former junior world No. 1 seems to be enjoying herself.

The Western & Southern Open runs through the weekend and is the last 1000-level event before New York.