Federer146;s 145;scream for help146;

8220;This is a scream for help,8221; said the Swiss, who expressed his frustration that administrators from both the ATP as well as the ITF, which oversees the four Grand Slams, are powering ahead without listening at all to players. 8220;We8217;ve not been happy the past few months. A player meeting in Miami last month was a big disappointment. These decisions need to be taken more slowly, we want a say as well. We8217;re the ones out there on court in the tennis shorts, they8217;re not.8221;

Federer and Nadal stand united in asking the ATP to consider carefully the ramifications of cutting the current nine Masters Series tournaments to seven in 2009, with Monte Carlo and Hamburg tipped for likely downgrades. Both events recently filed suit in Delaware against the ATP.

Shanghai is likely to be added as the eighth Masters after being stripped of the season-ending Masters Cup from 2008. Federer was among scores of players who recently signed a letter to the ATP, which the Swiss star says the body appears to have taken no notice of.

8220;We need to speak with the bosses, things are going too fast,8221; said the cautious Swiss amid reports that a provisional 2009 calendar is set to be unveiled within a week or two.

8220;I8217;ve had many meetings with ET De Villiers. He listens but then goes and does things his way 8212; I wish he would listen more. We8217;ve gone from predecessor Mark Miles doing nothing to ET doing too much.8221;

While Federer8217;s Swiss upbringing gave his words a serious, non-confrontational tone, there was pure venom from world number three Nikolay Davydenko. 8220;ET says 8216;trust me8217; like all Americans,8221; he said of the South African CEO. 8220;He wants too much trust, you can only believe five or 10 per cent of his decisions.8221;

ATP Player Board president Ivan Ljubicic also called for a re-think before it8217;s too late while still maintaining the calm. 8220;We don8217;t want it to come to a situation where we say we don8217;t want to play,8221; said the Croatian.

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