Introduction: Brain endurance training (BET) was used to evaluate cognitive load and fatigue in tennis. Although BET has been extensively used to explore physiological and perceptual-cognitive changes in endurance performance, its potential to induce cognitive fatigue and affect competitive performance remains under explored in sports. The hypothesis posited that a 20-minute BET session would induce cognitive fatigue in junior elite athletes, resulting in decreased match performance compared to baseline. Methods: Forty-two competitive junior tennis players (26 males, 16 females; Mean Age: 13 ± 2.4) participated, completing two match sessions at the Tennis Australia Hawkeye court. Session 1 comprised 20 minutes of BET followed by a 20-minute tennis match with intermittent BET tasks every 5 minutes, while Session 2 involved a standalone 20-minute tennis match. Player and ball tracking data assessed tennis performance, alongside pre- and post-questionnaires gauging subjective perceptions of cognitive fatigue. Objective data was analysed using linear mixed models while subjective data was analysed using t-tests. Results: Analysis revealed significant differences in subjective cognitive fatigue within and between sessions, with participants reporting fatigue and perceived performance changes due to BET. While only certain tennis performance metrics, including spin, rally-ball landing location, and in:out ratios, exhibited statistically significant differences. Discussion: While athletes reported notable changes in subjective mood and cognitive fatigue, objective match performance measures did not consistently differ between sessions. Responses from athletes, highlight a potential cause for the mixed match performance changes, as participants were divided on their post-BET experiences, as some found tasks increased focus and subsequently improve performance. Contrastingly others reported common descriptors of cognitive fatigue such as brain fog, poor decision making and uncharacteristic skill level. Impact and application to the field: These findings suggest not all athletes were appropriately fatigued from the BET and would therefore recommend future researchers to discover a way to ensure fatigue is met for each individual athlete before completing a post-intervention task. Overall, future studies should tailor BET protocols to individualize intensity levels, ensuring sufficient cognitive fatigue is induced prior to sport-specific performance assessment. Declaration: My co-authors and I acknowledge that we have no conflict of interest of relevance to the submission of this abstract.
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