Rivals, peers and ... practice partners? Before departing for Australia to officially kick off the 2025 tennis season, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek shared the court for a practice session over the weekend in Abu Dhabi.

In town to compete at the World Tennis League team exhibition in the last week, the World No.1 and No.2 continued to foster a blossoming off-court friendship to match their fiery on-court rivalry. The two Grand Slam champions -- who faced off three times in 2024 to bring their total of all-time meetings to an even dozen -- first linked up for a practice session at the year-end WTA Finals Riyadh presented by PIF in November, and kept the good vibes going in December's final days as they soaked up the last gasps of preseason training, working through a series of agility drills before trading groundstrokes.

"Keeping each other on our toes," quipped Sabalenka in sharing a video to Instagram of the two shuffling around the Zayed Sports City International Tennis Center.

The mutual respect between Sabalenka and Swiatek was one of the tour’s chief storylines of 2024 as they challenged for the sport’s biggest prizes, and that looks set to continue into 2025.

“For sure when we play against each other, I feel like it's a challenge," Swiatek said at Roland Garros this past spring. "I think it's also pushing me to become a better and better player, so I think we both kind of need each other to grow."

"She definitely motivates me a lot to get better," Sabalenka added, "and I think I improve so many things just because of her.”

But the two rivals likely won't see each other again until the tour touches down in Melbourne for the year's first Grand Slam tournament, at the earliest.

Sabalenka, the reigning Australian Open champion, will tune up for her title defense at the Brisbane International to start 2025, while Swiatek will represent Poland at the United Cup in Sydney. Last year's tournament MVP for runners-up Poland, Swiatek will team with Hubert Hurkacz, Kamil Majchrzak, Maja Chwalinska, Jan Zielinski and Alicja Rosolska to compete in Group B with the Czech Republic and Norway.