It was a thing for charity. Ive been hired by the promoter to cover the event as it travels across the East. The poinsettia came into play when Andy Roddick and Serena Williams played against John Isner and Caroline Wozniacki. Roddick was pretty much beating them both single-handedly so Wayne Bryan made him play with a poinsettia in one hand.
yeah. you are shooting some at 1/800 and 1/1000 and they show a good bit of motion blur, which is extremely distracting to me when looking at sports pictures. why not crank the ISO to 3200 (your shooting with a 5D right? it should be useable), and then shoot at 1/1250 or faster?
It looks like he's sitting back playing with himself and you blured out his junk. The eyes make it all the better!
Depends a lot on how it is youre shooting. Even with Women's NCAA at UL, 1/3200 wont stop them completely. Take that compared to a guy like Andy Roddick who serves at speeds over 150mph and you realize that its simply impossible to do indoors (unless you have a LOT of small/fast strobes).