“A ball girl is an individual who retrieves balls for players or officials in a variety of sports including association football, American football, tennis, baseball and basketball”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A ball girl runs with 2 balls for Ivo Karlovic of Croatia against Fernando Verdasco of Spain in their second round match during the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open tennis tournament at the Caja Magica on on May 11, 2010 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Now celebrating its 40th year, Nikon Small World is widely regarded as the leading forum to recognize proficiency and photographic excellence of photography taken under the microscope. To select the winners, competition judges analyzed entries from all over the world covering subjects ranging from chemical compounds to up-close-and-personal looks at biological specimens. The 2014 winners will be revealed on October 30th. In 2014, the competition received over 1,200 entries from more than 79 countries around the world. (Photo by Dr. Igor Robert Siwanowicz/Nikon Small World 2014)

Third place: the rear leg, claw and respiratory trachea of a louse (Haematopinus suis). (Photo by Frank Reiser/Nassau Community College/Nikon Small World Photomicrography 2021)

14th Place. Leaf roller weevil (Byctiscus betulae) lateral view. Image Stacking, Reflected Light 3.7X (objective lens magnification). (Photo by Özgür Kerem Bulur/Nikon Small World Photomicrography 2020)

A s*x worker (C) stages a performance to denounce what they say is abuse and social stigma against them in Madrid, Spain, October 14, 2015. Placard reads "Prostitutes are the ones that make the streets dirty". (Photo by Andrea Comas/Reuters)

Chen interacts with his “smart” sеx doll as he lays in a bed in his home in Guangzhou, Guandong Province, China, 05 April 2018. Chen, because of his busy pharmaceutical sales job and the travel it involves, has no time for a girlfriend. Chinese girls all want to talk about marriage after the second date and he is not interested in that for now, he said. (Photo by Aleksandar Plavevski/EPA/EFE)