The Croatian scrambled to make some last-minute calls to find out what would happen with her match. But she ended up beating lucky loser Darja Semenistaja 6-3 3-6 6-3 on Court 17 – even though she was disappointed not to play on a bigger stage.
Ruzic, 23, said: “I just got back from dinner with my team, and I was scrolling through Instagram, I was about to go to sleep, and then I saw that. I actually, I saw it on her Instagram story that she posted that she’s gonna pull out.
“I know it was late at night, I called the player relations team. I just told them, hope she’s well, but I just need to know if I’m gonna play, when I’m gonna play, like that’s it. And they told me, 30 minutes later, they told me it’s gonna be not before 1pm, Court 17, they assume Semenistaja. Nevertheless, I’m happy that I got the win.
“I hope Emma gets well and I know that it’s tough to pull out in front of her home fans as British No. 1. It’s not the easiest choice, but I think it’s the best decision that she made, if she was not fit to play, so better that she pulled out.”
The world No.61 was gutted to be taken off one of the showcourts and scheduled on a smaller stage, but still sealed victory on her Wimbledon debut. “I mean, it’s bad news because I wanted to play Court 1, maybe against her. But, like, today is good news because I won,” she added.
“After all, it’s not about the big court. Of course, you want to play on it, but every court in Wimbledon is special, even if you play on any court, and I told my team, like, better here than I’m not at all here!
“I mean, even Court 17 is really nice. You have the seats from one side to each other. It’s like closed, you know? So yeah, I enjoyed playing my first time, anyway.”
Ruzic will now face 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, while world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka remains a likely third-round opponent. It means she could well get to compete on one of the All England Club’s showcourts.