Laura Robson is in talks with TNT Sports about a surprise role fronting their live coverage of the Ashes from Australia this winter.<\/p>\n
The junior Wimbledon champion and mixed doubles Olympic silver medallist has made a successful transition to broadcasting since her premature retirement from tennis three years ago, working as a pundit for both TNT and Sky Sports, but England\u2019s tour to Australia would be her first major TV job outside tennis.<\/p>\n
TNT is understood to have offered Robson an on-the-ground reporting role throughout the five-match series, with its main commentary and punditry being provided off-site in Europe. The 31-year-old was born in Melbourne to Australian parents before moving to England at the age of six.<\/p>\n
Robson has combined tennis punditry with senior roles in administration since retiring due to the wrist and hip injuries<\/a> that troubled her throughout her career. After two years as the tournament director of the WTA 250 event at Nottingham she was appointed to the same position at the Queen\u2019s Club this year, taking charge of the first women\u2019s tournament at the London venue in over 50 years.<\/p>\n TNT is expected to use a combination of Robson\u2019s colour and reportage from Australia, the local commentary feed and their own pundits in the studio for its coverage of the series, the third Ashes tour in succession it or its predecessor BT Sport has covered live.<\/p>\n Robson was used as a courtside reporter by Sky at this month\u2019s US Open and was live on air before last Sunday\u2019s final when Donald Trump\u2019s arrival in Arthur Ashe Stadium led to boos from the crowd.<\/p>\n Alastair Cook is being lined up to provide expert punditry from the studio as the former England captain is not due to travel to Australia with the BBC\u2019s Test Match Special, with the TNT regular Kate Mason expected to present. While contracts have yet to be signed the negotiations are understood to be progressing well. TNT declined to comment.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers’ thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week\u2019s action<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n