Federer joined a host of top stars to complain about tennis's structure

The world number one and two criticised officials for rushing ahead with plans to cut the number of Masters Series events without listening to players.

"This is a scream for help," said Federer. "These decisions need to be taken more slowly, we want a say.

"We're the ones out there on court in the tennis shorts, they're not."

Interview: Roger Federer

The 2009 schedule is set to be published and is thought to included cutting the nine-event Masters Series down to seven, with Monte Carlo and Hamburg likely to be downgraded.

Switzerland's Federer was among scores of players who recently signed a letter to the Association of Tennis Professionals, the game's governing body, complaining about the pace of change.

We don't want it to come to a situation where we say we don't want to play Ivan Ljubicic

"We need to speak with the bosses, things are going too fast," he said.

"I've had many meetings with ET [ATP boss Etienne de Villiers]. He listens but then goes and does things his way - I wish he would listen more.

"We've gone from (predecessor) Mark Miles doing nothing to ET doing too much."

World number three Nikolay Davydenko questions why none of the four North American Masters Series events are going to be touched in the planned shake-up.

And ATP Player Board president Ivan Ljubicic called for talks before the situation worsens.

"We don't want it to come to a situation where we say we don't want to play," said the Croatian.

"We don't have time to lose. People who will be putting on tournaments in 2009 still don't know what kind of a tournament they will have. It could soon be too late (for player input).

"We don't have much time, it's only a year and a half away."

He has skipped the first round of the competition for the past three years but has always returned to help the Swiss retain their top-flight status.