Repeated sprint ability
The repeated sprint ability test, which attempts to quan- tify fatigue by comparing actual performance to an imag- ined “ideal performance”, consisted of 6 times 24.69 m (3 times 8.23 m, corresponding to the width of the ten- nis court) of discontinuous sprints, interspersed with 30 s of walking recovery. The timing gates were posi- tioned in the width of the court, at the opposite of the court’s two single lines. Subjects were instructed to run as fast as possible from one side to another 3 times from an initial standing start. Subjects started the test from a static position 30 cm behind the photocells, with timing starting once the beams of the first timing gate (0 m) were broken. Speed was measured to the nearest 0.001 s. A photoelectric cell timing system (Racetime2, Microgate®, Bolzano, Italy) linked to a digital chronoscope was used to record each sprint and rest interval time with an accuracy of 0.001 s. Fatigability (percent decrease in time between the fastest and slowest sprints) and sprint decrement score (Sdec) were calculated from sprint times using the follow- ing formula : Fatigue (%) = −((slowest sprint-fastest sprint)/ fastest sprint)×100; Sdec (%) = −(((Sprint 1 time + Sprint 2 time+...+Sprint 6 time)/Best sprint time × number of sprints)-1)×100 [16].