Liam Pitchford feeling in ‘much better place’ after mental health struggles

When Liam Pitchford sunk world number one Xu Xin in the semi-finals of the Qatar Open in March 2020, he could scarcely have comprehended the coming cataclysm that would turn his career and the entire sporting world upside down.

Within two weeks of a win that threatened the Chinese hegemony over Olympic table tennis medals, the Tokyo Games had been postponed and swathes of the planet plunged into pandemic lockdowns that rendered international competition effectively obsolete.

On a personal level for Pitchford, it rekindled mental health concerns he had first raised in a brave first-person piece for Esquire magazine two years earlier, in which he spoke of his struggle for motivation and a sense of purpose, even as he had risen exponentially through the ranks.

Pitchford would subsequently describe the delayed, post-lockdown Tokyo Games as “the worst of my career”, his previous expectations brutally dismissed by a first-round defeat in the men’s singles competition, and failure to qualify for the team event.

Ahead of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, at which the rankings suggest Pitchford is in with a chance of four gold medals, the 29-year-old from Chesterfield spoke candidly about his determination to emerge better-equipped to overcome future setbacks.

“When lockdown hit I felt like I had no motivation and nothing to aim for,” Pitchford told the PA news agency. “I’d probably neglected my mental health for a while, but I felt it moving forward and forward and I realised I needed to get myself help.

When lockdown hit I felt like I had no motivation and nothing to aim for. I'd probably neglected my mental health for a while, but I felt it moving forward and forward and I realised I needed to get myself help.- Liam Pitchford