It should be an interesting last third (or so) of the year. Alcaraz sort of faded out last year after Wimbledon, not winning another tournament and reaching only one final. He'll almost certainly do better this year, but he's had quite a last few months, so also wouldn't be surprised if he slowed down a bit.
Lots of little interesting dynamics and players. I mean, even Perricard in Cincy is interesting. Probably not ready to win a Masters yet, but on those fast courts he's going to be dangerous. Even just looking at Canada, and almost half (seven) of the top 16 are out after the 2nd round. Rune-Zverev could be a fun battle of primadonas.
Back to the overall year, Sinner started so dominant and has played well overall, but Carlos sort of blew by him. I imagine he'll be very strong going into the USO and is my current favorite to win it. But I'm not counting Carlos out, with Novak not far behind.
I'm also still hoping that we see something click in Holger Rune ... it just seems like a matter of time. But he's also in danger of slipping into Berdych territory. Still could go either way.
And of course there's Zverev and Tsitsipas, both of whom have played well this year - at least pretty well. I'm still not writing either off four winning a Slam, despite their dogshit mentalities. They'll hang around as dark-horses for a few years yet. I'd just love to see them meet each other in a Slam final. The angst would be through the roof.
Rublev is a mess, though won his first match in Montreal, and Medvedev hasn't won a big title all year. I don't expect much from either, at least on the North American circuit, but Rublev is such a wildcard at the Masters. I mean, his Masters title this year came amidst a slump and while he was sick. Maybe he got a call from Mr Putin.
A dark-horse is Sebastian Korda. Lost in the Olympics kerfuffle is him winning an ATP 500. Arthur Fils, too - both their first 500. Korda's was a bit limp-dick, though, with his best opponent being Tiafoe. Still, a nice trophy to build on. Fils is one to watch in the late season and into next year - I suspect by this time next year we'll have a better sense of his ultimate upside. I still don't see him becoming a true great, but I suppose he could become a less head-casey Tsitsipas/Zverev "lesser elite."