Sania Mirza: Tennis ace in Time magazine's '100 Most Influential People in the World' list

New Delhi: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza has been named by Time magazine in its list of the '100 Most Influential People in the World' released on Thursday.

Mirza, 29, recently received the Padma Bhushan from President Pranab Mukherjee after a sensational season as world's top-ranked women's doubles player.

Sania, along with Swiss partner Martina Hingis, went on to win 41 successive matches and also lifted the Australian Open earlier this year.

The top-ranked duo also won the Wimbledon and US Open last year.

In a profile for Mirza, batting great Sachin Tendulkar writes that her "confidence, strength and resilience reach beyond tennis" and she has inspired a generation of Indians to pursue their dreams " and to realize that they can also be the best."

The cricket legend, who himself was accorded the same honours in 2010, went onto described the tennis pioneer as an "inspiration" on the court.

He also lauded her "dedication and willpower" to reinvent herself fully as a doubles player when her singles career was cut short by wrist injuries.

In it's annual list, besides Mirza other Indians RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, actor Priyanka Chopra, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and founders of Flipkart Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal have also been named.

Interestingly, hugely popular Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi failed to make the cut for the second successive time, despite being in the probable contenders list.