When Liam Pitchford knocked down world number one Xu Xin in the semi-finals of the Qatar Open in March 2020, he couldn’t have fathomed the coming cataclysm that would upend his career and the entire sporting world.

Within two weeks of a victory that threatened China’s Olympic table tennis hegemony, the Tokyo Games had been postponed and swaths of the planet plunged into pandemic lockdowns that effectively rendered international competition obsolete.

On a personal level for Pitchford, it reignited the mental health issues he had first raised in a courageous first-person article for Esquire magazine two years earlier, in which he spoke about his struggle for motivation and sense of purpose, even as he had grown exponentially through the ranks.

Pitchford would later describe the delayed, post-lockdown Tokyo Games as ‘the worst of my career’, with his previous expectations shattered by a first-round loss in men’s singles and his failure to qualify for the team event. .

Ahead of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, at which the standings suggest Pitchford has a chance of four gold medals, the 29-year-old from Chesterfield spoke candidly of his determination to emerge better equipped to weather future setbacks.

“When lockdown hit I felt like I had no motivation and nothing to aim for,” Pitchford told the PA news agency. “I had probably neglected my mental health for a while, but I felt it coming on and I realized I needed help.

“I’ve spoken to my coaches and started seeing a sports psychologist again. I think I’m gradually getting back to where I want to be. Back then I wasn’t in great shape, but I think I’m in a better place now and I can use this experience as a positive for the future.

Pitchford first identified mental health issues in 2016, a breakthrough year in his career, in which he reached the last 32 in men’s singles at the Rio Olympics, and also won a historic bronze medal. alongside Paul Drinkhall and Sam Walker at the World Team Championships in Malaysia.

And he wants to debunk the idea that the mental health problems experienced by elite athletes are necessarily linked to the achievement – or lack thereof – of their sporting aspirations.

“I was playing some of my best table tennis feeling absolutely terrible off the table,” Pitchford added. “You don’t see it in top sport because we have a brave face, but we could really struggle in the background.

“I’m really happy that the perception has changed. I’m not the biggest name to talk about it, but it was a great thing for me to do at the time. Now that I have revealed everything, I feel like I can go to the table without any fear in me.

“I think it also shaped me as a person. It was hard to ask for help, but after going through that I feel like I can overcome anything, be it losing games difficult or having a bad day on or off the pitch.

“I don’t feel like I’m not going to make it, or that better days aren’t coming.”

Pitchford made his Commonwealth Games debut aged 17 in Delhi in 2010 and amassed eight medals in that event, although he had to wait until the 2018 team competition to win his only gold. so far.

Currently 19th in the world singles ranking – only Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna is higher in the Commonwealth – Pitchford can also expect top tier in the men’s doubles alongside Drinkhall, whose own Games experience dates back to their debut at the aged 16 in Melbourne in 2006.

But Pitchford is scoffing at the prospect of multiple podium visits in Birmingham, knowing that if things don’t go to plan he’ll be in a much better place to deal with the repercussions and rebuild back towards the Olympics in Birmingham. Paris in 2024. .

“Preparing for the Games is always stressful, but I’m in a much better position and I know what I have to do,” said Pitchford.

“I know when I step onto the court in Birmingham I’ll be ready, and even if it doesn’t go as well as I’d like, I know I’m in a place where I can fight and be happy with it. to have given everything.