Derek Jeter, Wayne Boich On Reserve Cup Miami 2026 And Why Padel Can Emerge As Mainstream Spectator Sport

Derek Jeter will always be known for his Hall of Fame baseball career with the New York Yankees, but he keeps busy these days with another venture – padel.

The 51-year-old New York Yankees great is an annual guest and team captain at Wayne Boich’s Reserve Cup Series in Miami. The Reserve Cup Series started in 2024 and takes place on the perfect scene at the Seaplane Base in Miami, which overlooks the bay and the city of downtown Miami.

“He’s got the greatest players in the world, best players in the world here,” said Jeter in a one-on-one interview. “Anytime you start a new venture, regardless of what business it is, you need the best and take into consideration Wayne is trying to build, bringing the momentum that Padel has had internationally to the U.S. In order for it to be more successful, we have to have big events. We’re going to get the best players here in Miami. People down here in Miami love events.”

The annual event – which began in 2024 – often features high-profile celebrity guests. Others associated with the event have been the likes of Jimmy Butler and Andrew Schulz. This year, Mark Wahlberg joined the festivities on the second day of the event as did well-known artists such as DJ Khaled and Steve Aoki.

Jeter mingled with guests in the crowd, in the VIP suite and on the elevated terrace. The three-day event felt like Miami in every sense, with socialites congregating on the scene.

“In anything you’re doing in life, the reality is, when you have folks like that, you’re fortunate enough to be friendly with in projects, it super sizes things, brings awareness that much more quickly,” said Boich in a one-on-one interview. “Having Derek, guys like Jimmy, obviously Mark, Steve Aoki, more people come and it helps bring more eyes to both padel and the Reserve (Cup).”

The event this year felt bigger in scale compared to the prior year. Whether it was due to the elevated terrace addition overlooking the padel court, more celebrity guests and high-profile concert performances by Miami staples such as 50 Cent (on opening night) and Rick Ross – to close out the event before he performed at E11EVEN Miami for his birthday celebration — it’s clear that the Reserve Cup Series and padel is starting to grow in popularity in Miami and in the United States in general.

Padel is a growing sport in America. Long story short for those who aren’t aware, it’s a fast-paced, action-packed tennis variation where you have to be super athletic to excel. Yes, even more so than regular tennis and 100 times faster than pickleball, which is considered the fastest growing sport in America.

The sport of padel tends to be played in two-on-two variations in an enclosed court with glass and mesh walls. Rackets are solid and balls can be played off of walls. The sport originated in Mexico in 1969 and it became hugely popular in Spain and Argentina. However, the sport is now growing tremendously in America as Boich points out.

“In some ways, very similar to pickle, but it won’t necessarily have as many players or courts,” said Boich of the potential surge in popularity of padel. “Pickleball is very easy to put into court and that’s great. It’s great to get people in active. They feel good, they feel healthy. Can’t take anything away from pickleball and what it’s done, what it will continue to do, but padel is very different.

“There’s a tremendous amount of dynamic nature to the sport,” Boich continued to say. “It’s incredibly athletic at the highest level, but yet you can pick it up very quickly like pickleball, and feel good about it. I think the growth of padel speaks for itself. It’s the fastest growing sport in the world, whether it’s at the tour level or the main tour. Look at the statistics. For example, the main tour five years ago, 80% of tournaments were in Spain. Main tour today, 20% of tournaments were in Spain. Players in the world are making several million dollars a year. 10 years ago, they’re making a few hundred thousand. 34 million people playing, in the U.S. it’s really at the tip of the iceberg. I think the growth is going to continue to be explosive because of all it has to offer. The demographic is so wide.”

Boich, who socializes with everyone at the event and is well-connected in the Miami community, speaks passionately about continuing to grow the sport of padel. Holding the event in Miami is the perfect location and it will continue to be held there, but Boich said they will continue growing into other cities, specifically going international.

The former tennis player – he’s taller than the 6-foot-3 Jeter and said the sport is what led him to his love of padel and growing it as a businessman – said they’re looking to bring it to just about every continent in the world.

“With the Reserve Cup, we’re in a position if we do two-to-three weeks a year, I feel like Miami on the bay is natural,” said Boich. “This is where we launched, the epicenter of padel. This is a staple of Miami now. I don’t see us not doing it here. We’re going into our second year this year, the second week of June and it’s the birthplace of Padel in Spain. It couldn’t be a better, you know, better place to do it.

“I think that will continue, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you see us adding a third tournament, potentially Middle East or South America in the not so distant future,” Boich continued. “Players want it. We think it’s great, it’s great for reserve, and we’ll continue to grow. The idea is continue to globalize. You’ll continue to globalize Reserve Cup and Reserve. With Reserve, the beauty of what we develop as a brand, it’s led us into a position in a fairly short period of time, that we have an incredibly close knit and tight membership community that’s growing because of our Pro-Am series we do, where people want to play in these programs so badly that it’ll grow our membership being involved with our events at Reserve Cup, I think are very attractive to Reserve members. We’ll grow methodically with both Reserve and resort.”

When asked if he could see this sport becoming more of a mainstream spectator sport, Jeter said he he can due to how action-packed it is.

“Why not,” said Jeter when asked if padel can become more mainstream. “It’s sort of a hybrid between tennis and maybe pickleball, and I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be a great spectator sport on television. But I don’t see any reason why not.”

Boich detailed that he plans on having “boutique residences” in different cities around the world and goes into further detail of his passion behind padel.

“I just love the sport,” said Boich. “I was a tennis player growing up, that was a big part of my life. It helped build the foundation for me as a businessman and what I’ve become. When I started to play, I thought it was great. I never thought of it as a business. Over time, I started bringing people on the court, doing exhibitions at my house. People started to play. I used to say, ‘Wow, I feel like I could really get everybody into this game and maybe start a company that as I thought about health and wellness and the tread into being an outdoors community, playing together with partners in the sport, I thought that I can create something, kind of start a movement.

“When you sit back and can help create a sport that doesn’t really exist in the US, it’s pretty powerful,” Boich continued. “And you love that sport. You see you’re getting everybody that is around you into it, and you think that you can leverage your talents or attributes in business to help things, maybe quicker than most people. It was a very compelling set of facts, but it started with just loving the game and then seeing how attractive it was to a wide group of people.”