Mallory Swanson needed not one surgery on her knee to repair her patella tendon, but two, she said on The Women’s Game podcast.

Swanson tore her patella tendon last April during a USWNT friendly, which knocked her out of the 2023 World Cup. It was a huge blow to the team, as Swanson had been one of the team’s best players up to that point.

But the knee injury was more serious than people even knew, she revealed Thursday. While the tendon “just completely ruptured,” she initially thought her kneecap was just dislocated.

“That tendon just completely ruptured,” she said. “And then my kneecap went up into my thigh. So it almost dislocated too. It hurt so bad. The training staff came on the field and then they put my kneecap back in place. And then I got relief and I was better.”

Two days later, Swanson had surgery to repair the tendon. Initially, she hoped she could return in time for the World Cup three months later. But a septic infection quickly changed those plans.

“I ended up having an infection in my knee a week and a half later,” Swanson said. “So basically I got surgery and then a week and a half later, I had a second surgery.

“It was really bad. They had to do basically an emergency surgery to try and get this infection out because it was starting to — I don’t want to say it was starting to take over my body — but I was very, very ill.”

Swanson says that she knew after that she wouldn’t end up playing in the World Cup, and in fact “didn’t even think about playing” after the infection. Instead, she was focused on feeling better.

“I was so sick. I was on IV antibiotics for like six weeks,” she said. “I had a PICC line in. It was awful. It was like literally the worst thing ever, but we made it through.”

Now, Swanson will make her return with the NWSL season. She’s back training with the Chicago Red Stars – with whom she signed an NWSL-record deal in the offseason as a free agent.

Swanson said that her knee “is good,” she’s returned to training with the team and she’s taking it day-by-day.

“I feel like it’s weird because it’s like I will talk to people that are coming back from major surgeries and injuries and they’re just like it just takes time,” Swanson continued. “I was like no it doesn’t, I’ll be fine.

“[But] it does, it takes time just to get little things back. But I feel good and I’m thankful for the support and the medical staff that I had supporting me throughout the whole thing.”

The world No. 1 USWNT is gearing up to take on No. 40 Jamaica on Tuesday night, capping the two-friendly international break with a match spotlighting both the past and future of the program.

After opening the stretch with a 3-0 Saturday win over No. 17 China PR in St. Paul, Minnesota, major roster rotations are expected in St. Louis, Missouri, on Tuesday as US head coach Emma Hayes continues evaluating fresh and familiar on-field combos.

"I want to make sure that, whether you start, whether you come into the game [off the bench], it shouldn't alter our level," Hayes told media this week. "If anything, we should keep finding other levels in us."

Plenty of young firepower will feature on Tuesday's pitch, but the clash will also celebrate a recently retired USWNT great.

Two-time World Cup champion, Olympic gold medalist, and St. Louis product Becky Sauerbrunn will take center stage, with Energizer Park even doling out bobbleheads in the standout center back's likeness.

"I've got a locker room — not just the senior players, but less experienced players — that talk about [Sauerbrunn] in the highest esteem, both as a leader and as a human being," said Hayes of the longtime USWNT captain. "I don't think you could want anything more than that in life, to have people talk about you like that."

How to watch the USWNT vs. Jamaica friendly on Tuesday

The USWNT will take on the Reggae Girlz at 8 PM ET on Tuesday in St. Louis, Missouri, with live coverage on TNT.

The WNBA Commissioner's Cup is back with its 2025 edition, as the annual in-season tournament raises both stakes and incentives across the league.

Winning percentage, point differential, and head-to-head records all factor in as both Eastern and Western Conference teams battle it out for a shot at the competition's $500,000 prize pool.

Launched in 2021, the Commissioner’s Cup runs concurrently with the regular season, drawing on in-conference matchups to build a team's overall Cup record.

The 2025 competition opened on June 1st, tipping off three straight weeks of conference play that will culminate in a July 1st championship final between the Eastern and Western Conference winners.

Last season's final foreshadowed the eventual WNBA Finals, as the Minnesota Lynx topped New York to lift the 2024 Commissioner's Cup before the Liberty enacted revenge by taking the 2024 Championship a few months later.

Hoping to lift both trophies this season, New York started the 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup party with a 48-point statement win over the Connecticut Sun last Sunday.

How to watch Tuesday's 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup games

Every WNBA game on Tuesday will have Cup stakes, starting with the Washington Mystics' visit to the Indiana Fever at 7 PM ET on NBATV.

Then at 8 PM ET, the Minnesota Lynx will host the Phoenix Mercury, airing on ESPN3, before the Dallas Wings close out Tuesday's slate in Seattle against the Storm at 9:30 PM ET on ESPN.

With injuries mounting across the WNBA, several teams have started stocking up on recently waived free agents, bolstering their depleted rosters with hardship signings as they head into a busy stretch of the 2025 regular season.

With both guard Kahleah Copper and forward Alyssa Thomas sidelined, the Phoenix Mercury signed former Atlanta Dream guard and 2023 first-round draft pick Haley Jones to a rest-of-season hardship contract on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Fever picked up ex-LA Sparks guard and 2021 first-rounder Aari McDonald on Sunday, with Indiana looking to boost their backcourt depth in light of injuries to guards Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham, and Sydney Colson.

These hardship signings come in clutch to keep benches stocked and WNBA teams in action.

However, the longevity of these early-season additions remains uncertain as teams attempt to balance league-maximum 12-player lineups with restrictive salary caps.

Hardship contracts allow teams to temporarily expand the salary cap, but when injured players return, so do tough roster calls — much to the dismay of front office decision-makers.

"More bodies would be good," Fever president Kelly Krauskopf told reporters with a wry laugh ahead of McDonald's signing.

Roster limitations will likely be a key issue when CBA negotiations rev up, with this week's emergency signings only adding fuel to the fire.

CBS is bringing UEFA Champions League (UWCL) action to the US next season, with the network announcing Saturday that it has acquired the European Championship tournament's exclusive broadcast rights through the 2029/30 campaign.

Ending with English side Arsenal lifting their first UWCL trophy in 18 years, last weekend's Champion's League final was the competition's last match in its a four-year international media deal with streamer DAZN.

Starting next season, however, CBS will air all 75 Champions League matches live across Paramount+, CBS Sports Network, and the CBS Sports Golazo Network.

"CBS Sports is proud to be the home of all women's and men's UEFA club competitions through the end of the decade," said CBS Sports' EVP of programming Dan Weinberg.

Further aligning with the men's tournament, the post-qualifiers Champions League competition will grow from 16 to 18 teams in 2025/26, while also transitioning from a group stage play-in to a single-league standings format.

"As the competition embarks on an exciting new era, we look forward to CBS Sports delivering its dynamic and insightful coverage to American audiences, showcasing the highest level of women's club football in its new format over the next five seasons," said Guy-Laurent Epstein, managing director at UC3, the commercial entity uniting UEFA and the European Club Association.