s at the end of the season, convinced she couldnt win the years final major and OK with the fact that meant shed finish her career without a Grand Slam title. The grind of the tour was wearing her down, the constant travel around the globe from week to week to week.At too many events, Pennetta was thi

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Taekwondo may be best known for its flashy and acrobatic kicks, but the electronic scoring system used at the Olympics apparently doesnt care whether or not fighters use the correct technique. Thats resulting in a lot of bizarre kicks that no true practitioner of the Korean martial art would recognize, in a departure that some say cheapens the sport.Sparring in taekwondo has traditionally relied on numerous kicks delivered with technical accuracy; depending on the kick, fighters usually strike with the blade of the foot, the heel or the front of the foot, with toes pointed back. To take advantage of the electronic scoring system -- which merely detects force rather than a competitors skill -- some taekwondo fighters and their coaches have figured out that the best-scoring kicks sometimes sacrifice form for expediency.Ive definitely seen some weird kicks that you would never teach at any taekwondo school, said Steven Lopez, the sports most decorated athlete, who was competing in a record fifth Olympics. They flick their legs up trying to do something to score, but it is not taekwondo.Unfortunately for Lopez, his Tunisian opponent Oussama Oueslati, in his bronze medal match on Friday didnt have a problem with those unusual techniques -- and used many of them to defeat him.Oueslati repeatedly used a move referred to by some as a scorpion kick, where he would swing his leg up towards Lopezs head and then snap it back like a scorpion tail. No such kick exists in the traditional taekwondo repertoire but because the technique results in the foot tapping the head guard, it frequently scores on the electronic system.Fighters wont care whether it looks like a banana kick or a twist kick or whatever it is, as long as its working, said Australian taekwondo competitor Safwan Khalil. He recalled a fight he had during the Rio Games with an opponent whose strange kicks caught him off-guard. When he started throwing those twist kicks, I was just like, `OK, What are we doing here? This is taekwondo? But you just have to roll with it.Kim So-hui, this years Olympic taekwondo champion in the womens 49-kilogram division, said she isnt thrilled about the evolution of the martial art either.Unfortunately, theres nothing I can do about it, said the South Korean athlete after clinching the gold medal on Wednesday. Its the taekwondo federation that decided that, not the athletes, she said, noting that she declines to use any of the hybrid techniques.The sports governing body acknowledged further scoring changes might be necessary.Athletes are at the very heart of the World Taekwondo Federation and so we are always ready to listen to feedback from them on how they think our sport can be improved, said Jung Kook-Hyun, the federations chairman of the technical committee, in an email. We are committed to constantly modernizing the sport but we always want to find a balance with honoring our traditions, he said, adding the federation would consider possible reforms after Rio.Some coaches are divided about whether or not to recommend using the unorthodox kicks.I dont like teaching these techniques, but thats the sport, said Jean Lopez, who directs the U.S. taekwondo team, including his brother Steven. I think its compromised taekwondo so that its become less about fighting -- and taekwondo is a martial art, a fighting sport, he said.Many athletes say that because the odd techniques often score, they cannot be ignored.Our job as athletes is to adapt as best we can and still give our best and produce good results, said South Koreas Oh Hye-Ri, gold medalist in the womens 67-kilogram division. Oh dominated most of her opponents by employing a steady stream of old-school head kicks that her competitors were unable to counter.Still, she said that she wasnt opposed to the evolution of the sport, even though it means extra training.I also practice a lot of those kicks as well, she said, providing a quick demonstration of what some describe as a donkey kick, where fighters jerk their leg up awkwardly to twist the back of their foot onto their opponents body protector. If it can win the fight, you have to try.Grayson Allen Jersey . 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Patrice Bergeron and Daniel Paille scored 20 seconds apart a few minutes after Stamkos was taken off the ice on a stretcher with a broken right leg, and the Bruins beat the Lightning 3-0 on Monday afternoon.NEW YORK -- Flavia Pennetta arrived back at Arthur Ashe Stadium and had one question: Where is it?She couldnt wait to see the most recent addition to the photos of past champions displayed at the U.S. Open. Its been almost one year since Pennetta affixed her name to that list, yet as she returned to Flushing Meadows on Friday, that moment felt much longer ago than 12 months.The 2015 U.S. Open final was not only when the 33-year-old Italian won her first major title. It was also when she announced to the world that she planned to retire.I had the chance to say to everyone in the perfect moment in the perfect way, Pennetta told The Associated Press before she appeared at the U.S. Open draw ceremony as the reigning womens champion. Of course it was a big moment -- not just for the winning, but for everything.I didnt have any regrets. One year later Im here and really happy with my life now.She had decided a month before the tournament to leave tennis at the end of the season, convinced she couldnt win the years final major and OK with the fact that meant shed finish her career without a Grand Slam title. The grind of the tour was wearing her down, the constant travel around the globe from week to week to week.At too many events, Pennetta was thinking: Why am I here? I dont want to be here.Sometimes I was 100 percent on court, she recalled, and sometimes I was, `OK, I have to play -- I dont want to go. I want to be another place.Where she often wants to be these days is riding the horse she owns. Her father jokes that she seems to spend more time doing that than she did practicing tennis.This summer, where she wanted to be was on a boat cruising between Greek islands. Pennetta hails from Brindisi, in the heel of Italys boot, where seemingly everybody makes the short trip to Greece for vacations. No one could believe that she hadnt been, but there was just never the time over the summer. Until now.Asked what else shes suddenly been able to do in retirement, Pennetta laughed and pointed out the biggest one: We get married.Her wedding to fellow Italian player Fabio Fognini took place in June. Fognini is 29, aand his wife isnt trying to sell him on the merits of retirement.dddddddddddd.I push him to play until 35, 37, Pennetta said, smiling.She hopes that by then hell be playing as a father.At this years U.S. Open, the 38th-ranked Fognini faces No. 106 Teymuraz Gabashvili in the first round Tuesday. Pennetta is kept close to tennis by her husbands career, and she follows the fortunes of former Italian Fed Cup teammates Francesca Schiavone, Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.Watching matches from the stands can be agonizing. Its so easy to see which shot the player should have hit, how they should react to a missed call.But she also knows well that between the lines, none of that comes easy.From outside, you see everything so clear. When youre on court, of course not, Pennetta said. You would like to help them, but there is no chance. You just have to sit there and say, `OK, come on.It was Vinci, her former junior doubles partner, who Pennetta met for the U.S. Open title in one of the unlikeliest major finals ever. Vinci, then ranked 43rd, had just derailed Serena Williams Grand Slam bid with a shocking upset in the semis.This was the first major final for both Italians, and the 26th-seeded Pennetta was the oldest woman in the Open era to become a first-time Grand Slam champion. Then during the trophy ceremony, she threw in one last twist to a tournament full of stunners. Her on-court interview about the end, Pennetta interjected: I just need to say one thing more.She played four more tournaments to wrap up her final season. Pennetta still enjoys playing for fun but now can go a month without touching a racket.Shes done some commentating work for Italian TV and figures she might help out the countrys tennis federation. But mostly she relishes the freedom to spend time with her husband and with her family back home in Brindisi, to travel around Italy visiting friends.Now I have all this time, so now Im perfect, she said, the smile spreading across her face. Im always where I want to be. ' ' '