Novak Djokovic may have been handed the luck of the draw by US Open organisers, but tennis fans were far from happy after the tournament schedule was released for Friday’s action.

Officials at Flushing Meadows released the Order of Play ahead of the Day 5 action, which features the likes of Djokovic, Aryna Sabalenka and Alexander Zverev on the showcourts.

But American fans were left bemused by the decision to snub the home favourites Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe in favour of giving the 24-time Grand Slam winner the favoured night session, which begins at 7pm local time.

In an all-American third round tie, Shelton will take on his compatriot Tiafoe in what promises to be an enticing encounter given their rank and energetic playing style.

However, the pair have been scheduled to play second on Arthur Ashe Stadium, with Elina Svitolina and Coco Gauff beginning the day session at 12pm local time.

In playing during the daytime slot, Shelton and Tiafoe would not get the opportunity to be screened on American TV during the primetime slot. Instead, that honour would go going to current US Open champion Djokovic as he faces 28th seed Alexei Popyrin.

Fans took to social media to register their dissatisfaction with the decision, as X user @ItsJoshFeldman said: “Tomorrow’s Tiafoe-Shelton match should be prime time – big mistake. Huge.”

Another fan, @VanSiasas, tweeted: “Why isn’t #Shelton-#Tiafoe a #USOpen night match? No disrespect to #Djokovic-#Popyrin, but I’d think 98 per cent of tennis fans in the U.S. would want to watch the home nation’s brightest male stars battle under the lights. @usta, that’s how we grow the sport here.”

One Reddit user, using the handle ‘NotManyBuses’, described it as “one of the worst scheduling decisions I can remember in my entire life.”

However, another Reddit member, ‘besieged_mind’, defended the decision to prioritise Djokovic. They wrote: “Current USO champion playing night session, truly scandalous decision.”

Their comments were echoed by ‘Scrabblelabble’, who added their support to the US Open organisers’ call, writing: “I’m surprised as anyone that Shelton/Tiafoe didn’t get the night session, but Popyrin is now a Masters champion and took a set off Novak at this year’s AO [Australian Open], when Novak was arguably in better form. Tomorrow night could really get interesting.”

The 37-year-old was handed a walkover to the third round after his match against Laslo Djere finished prematurely, having already won the first two sets.

His fellow Serbian was forced to retire through injury, while Djokovic also struggled with fitness issues after citing “stomach problems” during the match in New York.