Rain at Wimbledon monitored by rubber duck John Quackenroe

Findings from the the duck-and-bucket setup are relayed to a central office, which makes calls on whether to suspend play or cover courts. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA

There is no bigger frustration at Wimbledon than rain delaying matches. But the All England Club has revealed that it has deployed a secret weapon to assess the weather – a water-filled plastic bucket guarded by a rubber duck mascot named John QuackEnroe.

The club has an on-site weather station and millions of pounds worth of radar kit which can accurately predict the weather, minute-by-minute, on each court.