She once mentioned in an interview that she did it for consistency. If you look closely you'll notice she doesn't really pay attention to the opponent while she waits. I found it annoying as hell, but the wait alone does not impact the serve, which usually had pretty good quality in her case. Choi waits for ages and has a normal to inconsistent serve, same as Boe back in the day.
So in other words you want them for their achievements as players, not their abilities as commentators (who need to both entertain and communicate their ideas understandably). Personally I think the only two extra qualities ex pros have over others are the experience of being in the exact situation the players are in (not something I need to hear about more than once, pressure to performance is a situation almost anyone knows, even if not from sports), and their knowledge of behind-the-scenes stuff - which, after they end their career, is only different from that of the commentators for maybe half a year or a year. A commentator who takes their time talking to the players and coaches (as Gill does, and afaik Morten as well) can provide almost the same amount of background information as a recently retired pro, especially since you dont want to share private matters or too much detail about negative attributes anyway. The misconception that a good player transitions well into other roles is quite common, especially when talking about coaches. It is not necessarily true, as the requirements for both jobs are fairly different. Personally I think good coaches are very suitable as commentators as they usually have good knowledge for the game and an eye for what's going on on court (tactics at play, reasons for why player A beat player B,...), provided they can communicate their points sufficiently (adequate language skills, the general ability to explain ideas). That's why I like both Steen's and Morten's commentary, as they both provide insight and can express themselves well enough in English, and both work well with Gill (Morten especially, I feel Steen is a bit better at solo commentary in comparison).
Much appreciated your detailed analysis. I've just watched the match again and pay more attention to what you've mentioned. Actually, Jojo and Heo have the same height (1.79m and 1.80m respectively), thus I think the weight difference is not that much, though I also feel that Heo is appox. 4-5kg more than JC with his wider shoulder and upper body. Maybe that's what Morten referred to as you've said. I also hear the myth the wider and bigger your upper body (esp. shoulder) is, it will be more difficult to execute RTH shots, don't know whether it's correct or not. But when I saw HKH played so many BH shots instead of RTH, I assumed this myth is partially correct and maybe it's also his bad habit.
I still remember watching Seo playing singles during his junior days and one of the match i watched was him playing an indian player Ansal Yadav, barely winning indian player with 23-21 in the 3rd game. But Ansal yadav is nowhere to be seen in international circuit whereas Seo started playing doubles and the are quite successfull
Even i wondered. Usually Seo won't do such things. But all bad habits come faster in rapid pace than good ones. Lol
In my experience listening to commentators in my own language, I find that former top players are as good as coaches in commentating (assuming they have the language ability). Like coaches, top players know about techniques, strategies and tactics. They usually have experience working with multiple coaches. They see other players being coached in their clubs or national camps. They sometimes train younger players themselves in their clubs. So they have much of the insight that coaches have.
why indonesian players did not shake their heads while their coaches talking, in order them to know that they are listening.?