Every ankle sprain is tendon damage to some degree.
My understanding is that the doctor’s went in and tightened up his tendons surgically, which will lessen the chances for further sprains.
I had a chronic ankle sprain while I was playing in college and the doctor told me that he could go in and tighten those tendons, which would help keep my ankle from rolling so much.
I opted not to do it because I didn’t want to deal with the heal time and I certainly wasn’t good enough to go on to the next level… so I just played on it.
Even later, playing intramural flag football tournaments, I would still turn that damn ankle every other game.