Sam Buckley hasn’t yet settled into the Christmas swing. His PSA tournament commitments for 2025 ended with the recent Madeira International, but plenty of training and logistical planning for next year still needs to be done before a few days off.
It’s been a seminal year for the 24-year-old Dubliner. When it kicked off last January, he was ranked No.140 and when it peaked in mid-November, he had reached No.95 – the first time in a decade an Irish player featured in the top 100 since Arthur Gaskin a decade ago. Sweet.
Thing is, as super as this achievement of breaking into the upper echelon is, to him it’s only a stepping stone along his way to getting much, much further up the rankings.
“It was nice to break into the top 100, but to be honest, I hadn’t really been thinking about it too much because it’s not exactly where I want to be,” he explained to Squash Ireland. “I want to aim to be higher than that. It was still a nice box to tick, but I am hungry for more and to keep improving.
“I am definitely happy to do it and be the first person to do it in however many years, but I try not to dwell on it too much. I didn’t go pro to be the 99th best. I want to keep trying to be higher than that.
“I definitely take huge inspiration from the likes of Derek (Ryan, ex-No.7), Arthur (ex-No.60), Madeline (Perry, ex-No.3). Getting to that end of the rankings is extremely impressive, so hopefully we can find me or someone else in the next few years to replicate that.”
LA 2028, where squash is now part of the Olympic programme, is a Buckley target. “Definitely. It would be amazing, a huge goal of mine to be there. But I am just taking it week by week and trying to tick off a lot of small goals.
“I’m obviously nowhere near where I need to be to be there, so I am trying to just break my way through, top 80, top 60 and if I find myself there, that would be amazing.”
How soon? “Just hopefully as soon as possible. I know I am not there, but I am just putting in the work every day. If I just keep improving my level of squash, then the number beside my name on the list will be what it needs to be, I guess.”
When he spoke in midweek, Buckley’s ranking had dipped to No.103. The numbers used to only be totted up monthly. Now it’s a weekly thing and fortunes fluctuate.
“It’s just constantly changing. You are always going up or down a couple of places,” he said before picking out his best moment of 2025, a come-from-behind 3-1 round two win in France over a much higher-ranked, more experienced opponent.
“In Lagord against a guy from Pakistan (Muhammad Asim Khan), that was a pretty tough match. Physically. Mentally. A lot of decisions and stuff with the referee. I was just really happy to get over the line that day. It was one of those matches where I didn’t feel I was playing my best.
“I don’t think I was ever going to feel like that in that kind of match, and over the last year or so, I hadn’t always come out the right side of those matches, so I was happy to get over the line in that one.”
The one that got away and frustrated him the most happened 10 months ago. Buckley had arrived at the Irish Nationals last February looking to win his fourth successive senior title. Just when he seemed set to clinch it, momentum irrevocably turned.
Instead of banking a 3-0 win at Fitzwilliam, his Sutton clubmate Conor Moran produced an incredible comeback. “I was 2-0 and 8-4 up, maybe, and went on to lose that,” recalled Buckley.
“That was a pretty big learning curve, and thankfully, that was probably my worst experience this year. A lot of my best results of the year came within weeks of that, and I was pretty happy that I learnt from that.”
The 2026 Nationals loom large on Buckley’s calendar – February 6th-8th, back at the Fitzwilliam – but there are plenty of blanks yet to be filled for the second part of a season where the first, which featured tournaments in Helsinki, Brest, Vancouver, Brno, Lagord, Bern, London and Madeira, was intense.
“That probably wasn’t the greatest planning of all time,” he admitted about his run of eight events in 12 weeks, where 12 wins in 20 matches resulted in two semi-finals and three quarter-final appearances.
“It was probably one or two tournaments too many, but there were a couple I got into at the last minute from the reserve list, so they were opportunities I couldn’t really turn down.
“I am still at the ranking where I can’t pick and choose what I want to do. If I get the opportunity to play some bigger tournaments, even if they don’t fit my schedule perfectly, I’ll take them,” he said, adding how useful it was to play across the Atlantic for the first time in Canada.
“That was a good learning curve. I didn’t play my best, but even just going that far, I learned a lot of what I need to do to be more prepared, getting over the jet lag and things like that.
“Most places, it’s a bit of a blur, to be honest,” he added about the travel. “You could be anywhere in the world, and you just see a hotel room and a squash court, but it’s good. I enjoy it.
“I’ll be slightly less busy in the second half of the season because I played so many in the first half. I’ll probably play one or two less, as there are some bigger events. The Irish Open would be a big one, World Championship qualifiers and British Open qualifiers.
“There are quite big events, so hopefully I can be a bit more strategic and target a few events. I haven’t decided which other tournaments I am going to do. The closing deadline isn’t until the first week of January, so I still have a couple of weeks to decide.”
An admirer of the turbocharged route English youngster Jonah Bryant has taken to become PSA No.13 at the age of just 20 under Rob Owen, Buckley was at a Christmas lunch the other day in England as he is also now part of the Owen coaching stable.
That was a festive period treat. “I’ll definitely keep training away,” he said. “I obviously have a couple of days off, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and enjoy myself a bit but no, I’ll definitely still keep training, staying fit because there are tournaments on the horizon, so I need to stay in shape.
“It’s a pretty good time of year to do a bit of hard training because it’s the first time since September that I won’t have a tournament for a month or two. It’s a chance to get fit and strong and get a lot more work done than I can do in the season.
“I’ll be doing a bit of running and stuff for the next couple of weeks because during the season, when tournaments are coming up, I find running and stuff too tough on the body if you have a tournament in a few days, so you are more or less maintaining your fitness, whereas now you I have the chance to get a bit fitter and stronger.”
The higher Buckley went this past year, the more fraught some matches became with opponents frequently airing opinions to the referees to try and gain an advantage.
“It can be tough sometimes, especially if you are playing an opponent that you feel is purposely getting in your way or something. It’s tough not to react, but it’s never a positive if you are having to react because you lose your focus on what you are trying to do.
“I don’t really mind it, really. If you see the opponent chatting up the referee, it’s probably a sign that they are getting a bit annoyed, and maybe I am doing something right, and they are distracted. If it is me who is chatting to them, then it’s probably not a good idea because I am getting distracted myself.”
It was many years ago when Buckley became smitten with squash at Sutton and flourishing under the command of Eoin Ryan, but it wasn’t love at first swing when he and some pals took refuge indoors after getting rained off the outdoor tennis courts.
“It was mad. I originally didn’t really like the squash too much. I don’t know, I can’t remember. I just remember, I don’t like this. Maybe it was because I was only starting, and I wasn’t good.
“I was a bit competitive and didn’t like the fact that I couldn’t hit the ball. But that changed after a couple of months and I no longer wanted to be out on the tennis courts; I only wanted to be inside. I’m happy it worked out that way.
“I started with Eoin when I was probably seven or eight years old. I have known him for a seriously long time, a lot of trips away in Ireland, in Europe, in the world, for however many years. It’s been great.
“It has been a consistent backing and support. It’s great. His lifetime dedication to the sport has created a great environment where people love going down to the courts to play squash.”
Not being able to play during the pandemic only added to Buckley’s bond with the sport. “For the guts of a year, I couldn’t hit a squash ball, which wasn’t great. That was tough. But when it eventually did come back, it was such a fresh start.
“I was so excited to be able to play again and be able to compete, which was nice because sometimes you can just get into the rhythm, and you get used to doing it. When it is taken away, you realise how much you need it. I was like a kid in a sweet shop.”
Another challenge was balancing his squash with the demands of his four-year TU Dublin course in property economics. “I was lucky enough with the course I did. For most of the years, it was a three-day week, so I was still able to train twice pretty much most days.
“It was a bit harder when I was looking to go to tournaments and stuff. I couldn’t always go to the tournaments I wanted to; that was a bit frustrating. And during the course, I did a four- to five-month work placement, nine to five, so that was pretty tough for squash, but I got through it okay.
“I am very glad I did the course, it was a good experience and will hopefully stand me in good stead for the future if I need it. But it’s good to do something like squash as your job – if we are going to call it a job.
“It’s something that you love and are passionate about. It’s pretty exciting. I am definitely happier on the squash court than I would be in an office.”
Why so? “I just love the competitive aspect. Especially, you know the feeling before you go in, are you good enough, are you not, what is going to happen on the day? I just love that little buzz you get, and then you go out and prove to yourself you deserve to be there.”
Buckley proved exactly that in 2025.
