Serena the shopper buys from boutique bargain rack

Serena the shopper buys from boutique bargain rack Melbourne  - Hard economic times have not come down too hard on Serena Williams with the second seed making a lightning raid on a Chapel Street boutique.

But the world number two might have tipped her hand that even she might be feeling the heat as she bought a pair of items from a rack filled with merchandise marked down to half-price.

Nevertheless, the reported tab - a snip at 300 dollars - came after a 20-minute browse with her mother, Oracene Price. The pair didn't even require the store to be closed to other customers, happily mingling with the other punters also present inside.

Williams declared that she has been cutting back on her multimillion-dollar lifestyle: "I have been keeping my shopping at a minimum with this economy thing. I've had to make major cutbacks, me and my [fashion] company."

But Williams, who was loaned a bit of necklace bling worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for a few days last week in Sydney, isn't all about the economizing.

"You have to live your life," she said. "I love giving, so I love philanthropy. I just have been trying to do a lot with that more lately." (dpa)