Have you ever opened an Excel file and felt a pang of unease? Rows upon rows of data, cryptic formulas sprawled across cells, and a tangle of manual formatting that seems one misstep away from chaos.

A research team from Trento University in Italy analyzed 10 years' worth of match performance data from world-class athletes in one-on-one sports such as badminton, table tennis, tennis, fencing, foil ...