(VIDEO) Azarenka shows off superb handshake with son Leo at DC Open Washington

Victoria Azarenka and her son Leo shared a special handshake during a training session.

The former world No. 1 will be participating in the Citi Open in Washington this week, a tournament that has been upgraded from a WTA 250 to a WTA 500 event this year, attracting top players from around the world to kick off the US Open Series swing.

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As usual, Victoria Azarenka was seen with her son Leo, this time on the training courts in Washington. A video shared on the official Twitter account of the Mubadala Citi DC Open shows the former world No. 1 engaging in a playful handshake with her son.

"Vika & Leo’s special handshake," the caption read.

Mubadala Citi DC Open

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Vika & Leo’s special handshake 😍 @vika7 | #MubadalaCitiDCOpen

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In 2016, the Belarusian tennis player gave birth to her son and faced a challenging custody battle with her ex-boyfriend Billy McKeague, which kept her away from the WTA tour in 2017 as she refused to travel the world without her son.

Eventually, Azarenka won custody, and they are frequently seen together, although rarely on the courts during Vichka's tournaments

Mario Boccardi

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Victoria Azarenka with Leo watching the All Star Weekend 😎🥳 📸 IG

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World No. 19 had her last appearance at Wimbledon, where she secured victories against Yue Yuan, Nadia Podoroska, and Daria Kasatkina (11th seed) to reach the second week at SW19.

In the fourth round, she faced Elina Svitolina in a tense match that the Ukrainian won. Svitolina and other Ukrainian players have refused to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian players after matches due to the ongoing conflict in their country.

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After blockbuster but controversial Wimbledon tie Svitolina will meet Azarenka again at DC Open in Washington

Azarenka decided not to shake hands with Svitolina after the match out of respect for the 29-year-old's decision, but this was interpreted negatively by the audience at the All England Club, leading to boos. During the subsequent press conference, Azarenka commented on the situation:

“She doesn't want to shake hands with Russian, Belarusian people. I respected her decision. What should I have done? Stayed and waited? There's no thing that I could do that would have been right, so I just did what I thought was respectful towards her decision.”

This time, Azarenka and Svitolina will face each other once again in the first round of the Citi DC Open. In their head-to-head (H2H) record, 'Vichka' leads 5-1, with the only loss being the mentioned match on Court 1 during Wimbledon three weeks ago.

ESPN Tenis

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¡PEDAZO DE RALLY ENTRE AZARENKA Y SVITOLINA! 💥😱 #ESPNenStarPlus ▶️ dis.la/Wimbledon_Cour…

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