hinkel grew up in leutenbach in the state of baden-württemberg and started to play football there. when he was ten years old, he came to the youth teams of stuttgart. in 2001 he had his first matches for stuttgart in the uefa cup and in the bundesliga. from 2003 to 2009, he played 21 matches for the germany national team. his first international match was on 30 april 2003 against serbia and montenegro.