In Pictures: Victoria Azarenka's son Leo steals spotlight during hockey session ft. Jelena Ostapenko, Daria Kasatkina ahead of Canadian Open

Victoria Azarenka's son Leo was the star of the show in a friendly ball hockey match between WTA and PWHL (Professional Women's Hockey League) players ahead of the Canadian Open. Ball hockey is an off-ice variant of the game of ice hockey. The friendly match took place at the Sobeys stadium in Toronto on Sunday, August 5.

In a tradition of sorts, a family style hockey-meets-tennis event is organized by the Canadian Open in their opening weekend. Leo had sported the NHL jersey, much to the delight of the local crowd, in a friendly clash against ATP players last year.

This year, the 7-year-old donned the WTA jersey as he wielded a hockey stick alongside his mother. In a picture posted by the organizers on X (formerly Twitter), Leo can be seen standing in the center surrounded by both teams posing for the cameras.

Azarenka was joined by Jelena Ostapenko, Shelby Rogers, Caroline Dolehide, and Daria Kasatkina. The organizers took to X to share pictures from the event where the players can be seen laughing and hugging each other.

In one of the pictures, Azarenka can be seen relaxing on a chair and making a "victory" sign.

Top names like Blayre Turnbull, Emma Maltais and Emma Woods were part of the PWHL side. In an impressive show of skills, the WTA managed to finish the game with a 4-4 tie.

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Victoria Azarenka set to clash with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in R1 of Canadian Open

Victoria Azarenka at the 2024 Ecotrans Ladies Open in Berlin | Getty

World No. 19 Victoria Azarenka will kick off her 2024 Canadian Open campaign with an opening round clash against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Azarenka was last seen on court in the quarterfinals of this year's Citi Open in Washington where she lost 4-6, 4-6 to Aryna Sabalenka. Sabalenka later suffered a semifinal loss to Marie Bouzkova.

Azarenka's best result at the Canadian Open has been reaching as far as the semifinals in 2008, 2010 and 2011. The Belarusian had withdrawan from the 2023 edition of the event before her second round encounter against Sloan Stephens due to injury.

World No. 29 Pavlyuchenkova was also last seen in action at the 2024 Citi Open. The Russian suffered a 1-6, 7-6, 4-6 against Amanda Anisimova in the Round of 16.

The Russian will be looking to better her second round run at the Canadian Open in 2021. She did not compete in the 2022 and 2023 editions of the event.

Azarenka leads the head-to-head against Pavlyuchenkova 6-2.