Three must-see first matches from Melbourne

Another season of Grand Slam tennis is upon us, and, once again, an eclectic field of challengers will look to end—or at least interrupt—the men's-side dominance of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

It's unclear which of the other 125 players could be the one to step up in at the Australian Open this fortnight, but the early rounds will be cruelly efficient at narrowing down the possibilities.

Here are three can't-miss first-round men's matches that just may shape the rest of the tournament:

Truthfully, this probably won't be a great match, at least not in the classic sense. In percentage of service games won, Raonic and Kyrgios are respectively No. 3 and No. 5 on the ATP. On the return side, Raonic is No. 82 and Kyrgios is No. 91. Consequently, this match will likely be won and lost on the basis of a few pressure-packed moments.

Kyrgios, though he's been foundering in recent months, loves to bring his A game for the Australian Open crowd. And Raonic, seeded 16th and looking to return to Grand Slam contention, will need to be ready from the word "play."

Much like Raonic, Thiem is a second-tier favorite with the misfortune of drawing a difficult first-round opponent. Although he made last year's French Open final and was inches away from beating Nadal to make the US Open semis, Thiem doesn't have much momentum going into Melbourne. He lost his only official match of the season so far, to Pierre-Hugues Herbert, and went 0-3 at the Abu Dhabi exhibition.

Thiem will need to quickly get his confidence back for his first major test of 2019, and the masses will be watching to see whether he finds it.

With the past two years of Slams having been swept by Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, Wawrinka will have to elbow his way back into the mix in 2019, the way he did earlier in his career. In addition to the Big 3-sized challenge, Wawrinka starts his Australian Open against unpredictable Gulbis, who came through Wimbledon qualifying last year to win six total matches, knocking out world No. 3 Alexander Zverev.

Wawrinka, should he get through Gulbis, would then have to play the winner of Raonic and Kyrgios. Suffice it to say, he has his work cut out.