As the Wimbledon tennis championship begins on Monday, one group of observers will be hoping for rain.

Engineers at Street CraneXpress, the Sheffield-based company behind the concertina-shaped retractable roof over Wimbledon’s centre court, want to see their creation in action at the tournament for the first time. “We’d like it to rain because then we’ll get a true test of how well the structure works,” said Andy Whitworth, projects director at the company which employs 100 people.