He was one of the best German tennis players in the 1970s and early 1980s, and led the German rankings from 1978 to 1980. One of his greatest successes was winning the Swiss Open (final against Peter McNamara ) in 1979. During this time, which was not very successful for German tennis, he reached 22nd place in the individual ATP world rankings . In 1973 and 1978 he was German tennis champion. Like his brother, Rolf Pinner, he played for years in the Bundesliga tennis for the Blau-Weiß Neuss club , with whom he was German team champion several times.
In 1978 he was number 1 in the German tennis rankings, ahead of Klaus Eberhard (2nd), Andreas Maurer (3rd), Rolf Gehring (4th) and Werner Zirngibl (5).