Some time for "self pity" and a good old "kick up the arse" has helped Joelle King bounce back in Birmingham with the New Zealand flagbearer ready to continue her squash campaign after a disappointing fourth in the women's singles.
King, the defending champion after winning gold in 2018, suffered a pair of painful losses to finish her run in the women's singles earlier this week, first going down to Canada's Hollie Naughton 3-2 in her semi-final before also losing a five-game marathon against English rival Sarah-Jane Perry.
After only answering two questions following her semi-final defeat, King didn't take questions on Thursday to reflect on her 4th place finish, instead opting to leave the venue swiftly with her nearest around her.
It was a heart-breaking scene but just 24 hours later, the 33-year-old was back on the court in a round of 16 win to open her women's doubles campaign with Amanda Landers-Murphy, taking down Guyana 2-0 [11-3, 11-8].
In her first appearance since her painful singles run, King told 1News she was "feeling good".
"I had my time, the team let me have my self pity and absolutely it's been probably one of the hardest weeks of my whole career to be honest," King told 1News.
"It was nothing like I imagined this week was going to go but that's sport - it's how you can move on from it."
King said her support network has "shined through" In the past 48 hours.
"A kick up the arse sometimes makes you more determined than ever and that's kind of how I feel right now," she said.
READ MORE: Emotional King reviews shock semi loss - 'I wasn't good enough'
"It's funny how family actually know the right things to say - probably the best conversation I had was with my brother this morning. Just a few little things he said kind of sparked me up.
"He told me, he said a lot of things actually, but the one that I keep laughing about is he said, 'you know what happens when you keep looking back? You get a sore neck - so just keep looking forward'.
"So that's what I'm trying to do."
King not blaming flagbearer duties for shock defeats
King added she feels her role as flagbearer for this year's opening ceremony along with her status as defending champion may have had an impact on her she didn't see coming but at the end of the day, the results fall on her.
"I think anyone who's done that role would say the same thing - it's an emotional thing to be representing your country in front of so many amazing athletes," she said.
"It doesn't mean that's the reason I didn't perform - I'm not saying that but obviously there's a lot more duties that you have to fulfil but that's what happens when you're a top seed. There are more media commitments and more things like that and it's about dealing with them which I probably didn't do that well but we learn from mistakes."
King then returned to the court on Friday morning with Paul Coll to also launch her mixed doubles campaign after her partner won gold in the men's singles competition and continued the dominant trend with a 2-0 [11-4, 11-3] win over Pakistan.
"I've got a chance with Amanda and Paul to to make a bit of amends for the week," she said.
"And that is what I'm here to do."
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