Grünes began playing tennis at the age of twelve in East Berlin at the SG Friedrichshagen.

She initially played in the club for only three months and then trained according to the practice schedules set up by her father.

[1] Grünes played her first match after moving to West Germany in Mainz in 1988 in the elimination round for the German championship.

In singles she won ITF tournaments in Santo Domingo in November 1991 and in Curaçao in November 1995, and reached the finals in ITF tournaments in Jersey (September 1994), Kugayama, Japan (September 1997), and Toruń, Poland (August 1998).

[5] Grünes moved to the United States and began studying business at Barry University in Florida.