Christen Press opened up about her injury recovery in a recent interview with The Athletic, saying that she is still “relentless” in her optimism regarding her recovery.
Press has been out since June of 2022 with an ACL tear, which has resulted in four surgeries and 20 months away from the game.
“I have a bit of relentless optimism,” she told The Athletic. “I never, ever doubted that I would make it back on any of the timelines I’ve been on. Every single time I’ve heard, ‘You have to have surgery,’ I’m completely shocked,” she said. “When somebody asks me how it’s going, I’m like, ‘It’s going great. And it was going great every time. So I don’t know what to tell you anymore!’”
While it has been a “slow process,” Press was finally taken off of Angel City’s season-ending injury list. But she’s still not back training with the team.
She told The Athletic that she doesn’t expect to be back training in the next few weeks, either. She says that not making the World Cup “released me of a timeline.”
“A slow process, and a lot of expectations that have to shift and be dynamic,” she said. “The beginning of the year and the beginning of the season always mark fresh energy, and I will go into the season watching my team, feeling like it’s still my season and still my team. It’s definitely my community.”
But she’s still eyeing her return, both to Angel City and the U.S. women’s national team. First on that list is getting back to training.
“The first thing I need to do is get into training, but then I can get into games, then I can score goals, then I can have an outstanding season, then I can play on the national team again,” she said. “I don’t have anything ruled out. But the most important thing for me right now is just the first step: getting back into training.”
