Arriens played his first tournament on the ATP Tour in 1991, at the Geneva Open, where he upset world number 33 Omar Camporese.

At the 1993 French Open, Arriens won his first Grand Slam match, outlasting Thomas Enqvist in five sets.

Upon losing the second set, to level the match at 1–1, the German threw his racquet into the net in frustration, from the baseline.

It however struck a linesman on his lower leg and the tournament referee was called, which culminated in Arrien's disqualification.

[2] Also that year, Arriens made the second round of the US Open, with a win over Karol Kučera and then came up against fourth seed Boris Becker, who beat him in straight sets.